Skip to main content

Full text of "The last will and testament of Cecil John Rhodes : with elucidatory notes to which are added some chapters describing the political and religious ideas of the testator"

See other formats


f 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY* 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


Photograph  by]  [  <K.  and  D.  Downey. 

The  Right  Hon.  Cecil  John  Rhodes. 


THE 

LAST  WILL   AND   TESTAMENT 

OF 

CECIL  JOHN  RHODES 

WITH     ELUCIDATORY    NOTES 

TO    WHICH    ARE    ADDED 
SOME    CHAPTERS    DESCRIBING    THE 

POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS    IDEAS 
OF    THE    TESTATOR 


EDITED    BY    VV.    T.    STEAD 


LONDON 

"REVIEW    OF    REVIEWS"    OFFICE 

NORFOLK    STREET,    W.C. 

1902 


LONDON  I 

PRINTED    BY   WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND   SONS,    LIMITED, 
DUKE   STREET,    STAMFORD    STREET,    S.E.,    AND    GREAT   WINDMILL   STREET,    W. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


THE  interest  excited  by  the  publication  in  the 
daily  papers  of  the  last  Will  and  Testament  of 
Cecil  John  Rhodes  justifies  and  explains  the 
appearance  of  this  volume. 

For  the  marginal  and  foot  notes,  as  well  as 
for  the  chapters  describing  the  political  and 
religious  ideas  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  no  one  is 
responsible  but 

THE  EDITOR. 

June  4?/i,   1902. 


CONTENTS. 


FRONTISPIECE  :   THE  RIGHT  HON.  CECIL  JOHN   RHODES. 
PREFATORY  NOTE. 

PAGE 

TART  I. — THE  LAST  WILL  AND  TESTAMENT       .  .  3 

PART  II. — THE    POLITICAL  AND    RELIGIOUS   IDEAS  OF 

MR.   RHODES       .          .          .          .  51 

CHAPTER      I. — His  WRITINGS     •          •  55 

„           II. — -His  CONVERSATIONS     .  .  79 

„          III. — His  CORRESPONDENCE.  .  117 

.,          IV. — His  SPEECHES      .          .  .  139 

PART  III. — THE  CLOSING  SCENE       .          .          .  177 

INDEX   .........  193 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FRONTISPIECE  :  THE  RIGHT  HON.  CECIL  JOHN  RHODES. 

PART   I. 

PAGE 

MR.    RHODES'S   BURIAL   PLACE:    THE  SUMMIT  OF   "WORLD'S 

VIEW" .2 

MR.  RHODES'S  WESTACRE  FARM  IN  THE  MATOPPOS  ...  6 

THE  INYANGA  FARM 8 

GROOTE  SCHUUR       .........  10 

APPROACH  TO  GROOTE  SCHUUR 12 

OTHER  VIEWS  OF  THE  RESIDENCE 14-37 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES  :  BY  E.  TENNYSON-COLE         .         .  26 

ORIEL  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 31 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  B.  F.  HAWKSLEY 41 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  W.  T.  STEAD      ...  42 

DALHAM  HALL 48 

PART  II. 

CECIL  RHODES  (A  SKETCH  BY  THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  GRANBY).  50 

PORTRAIT  OF  LORD  ROSEBERY 53 

MR.  RHODES  STUDYING  THE  MAP  OF  AFRICA  ....  54 

CHAPTER  I. — PORTRAIT  OF  LORD  MILNER     ....  57 

PORTRAIT  OF  EARL  GREY          ....  60 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  A.  BEIT       ....  65 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  L.  L.  MICHELL    ...  67 

PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  JAMESON       ....  75 

CHAPTER  II. — PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES  AS  A  BOY       .         .  78 

HOUSE  IN  WHICH  MR.  RHODES  WAS  BORN       .  87 

PORTRAITS  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  MAGUIRE   .         .  92 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  F.  E.  GARRETT  .  no 


x  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PART  II.— continued.  PAGE 

CHAPTER  III. — PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES        .         .         .  .116 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  C.  D.  RUDD         .         .  .     119 

PORTRAITS  OF  DR.  JAMESON  AND  MR.  BOVD  .     123 

PORTRAIT  OF  SIR  HARRY  JOHNSTON          .  .     127 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES  IN  1899  .         .  .     138 

CHAPTER   IV.— A  CHARACTERISTIC  PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES      141 

PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  RUTHERFOORD  HARRIS  .     146 

PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  HAYS  HAMMOND.         .  .156 

PART   III. 

THE  LAST  PORTRAIT  OF  MR.  RHODES 176 

THE  COTTAGE  AT  MUIZENBEKG,  WHERE  MR.  RHODES  DIED     .     179 

THE  LYING  IN  STATE      . 182 

FU.NERAL  PROCESSION  STARTING  FROM  BULAWAYO    .  .     182 

EXCAVATING  MR.  RHODES'S  TOMB   ...  .     186 

LOWERING  THE  COFFIN  INTO  THE  GRAVE         .         .         .         -191 


THE    LAST    WILL    AND    TESTAMENT 
OF   CECIL   JOHN    RHODES. 


PART   I. 


THE   LAST   WILL   AND    TESTAMENT. 

THE  sixth  and  last  Will  and  Testament  of 
Cecil  John  Rhodes  is  dated  July  ist,  1899.  To 
this  are  appended  various  codicils,  the  last  of 
which  was  dated  March,  1902,  when  he  was  on 
his  deathbed. 

The  full  text  of  the  Will  and  its  Codicils  will 
only  be  published  when  the  Will  is  proved  in 
South  Africa. 

The  following  are  the  substantive  passages  of 
the  Will  so  far  as  they  have  as  yet  been  given  to 
the  public. 

The  Will  begins  :— 

I  am  a  natural-born  British  subject  and  I  now 
declare  that  I  have  adopted  and  acquired  and 
hereby  adopt  and  acquire  and  intend  to  retain 
Rhodesia  as  my  domicile  (a). 

(i.)   His  Burial  Place  in  the  Matoppos. 

I  admire  the  grandeur  and  loneliness  of  the  His  last  rest- 
Matoppos  in  Rhodesia  and  therefore  I  desire  to  in£  Place- 

(a)  Being  thus  domiciled  in  Rhodesia  his  estate  is  not 
subject  to  the  death  duties  levied  on  those  domiciled  in 
England. 


THE    WILL   OF  CECIL  J.  RHODES. 


The  Shan 
gani  monu- 
ment. 


be  buried  in  the  Matoppos  (b)  on  the  hill  which  I 
used  to  visit  and  which  I  called  the  "  View  of  the 
World  "  in  a  square  to  be  cut  in  the  rock  on  the 
top  of  the  hill  covered  with  a  plain  brass  plate 
with  these  words  thereon — "  Here  lie  the  remains 
of  Cecil  John  Rhodes  "  and  accordingly  I  direct 
my  Executors  at  the  expense  of  my  estate  to  take 
all  steps  and  do  all  things  necessary  or  proper  to 
give  effect  to  this  my  desire  and  afterwards  to  keep 
my  grave  in  order  at  the  expense  of  the  Matoppos 
and  Bulawayo  Fund  hereinafter  mentioned. 

I  direct  my  Trustees  on  the  hill  aforesaid 
to  erect  or  complete  the  monument  to  the  men 
who  fell  in  the  first  Matabele  War  at  Shangani 
in  Rhodesia  the  bas-reliefs  for  which  are  being 
made  by  Mr.  John  Tweed  and  I  desire  the  said 

(I))  Mr.  Bertram  Mitford  says  : — "  For  grim,  gloomy  savagery 
of  solitude  it  is  probable  that  the  stupendous  rock  wilderness 
known  as  the  Matoppo  Hills  is  unsurpassed  throughout  earth's 
surface.  Strictly  speaking,  the  term  'hills'  scarcely  applies 
to  this  marvellous  range,  which  is  rather  an  expanse  of  granite 
rocks  extending  some  seventy  or  eighty  miles  by  forty  or  fifty, 
piled  in  titanic  proportions  and  bizarre  confusion,  over  what 
would  otherwise  be  a  gently  undulating  surface,  forming  a  kind 
of  island  as  it  were,  surrounded  by  beautiful  rolling  country, 
green,  smiling,  and  in  parts  thickly  bushed.  High  on  the  out- 
side ridge  of  this  remarkable  range,  about  twenty  miles  distant 
from  Bulawayo,  towards  which  it  faces,  there  rises  a  pile  of 
granite  boulders,  huge,  solid,  compact.  It  is  a  natural 
structure ;  an  imposing  and  dominating  one  withal,  and 
appropriately  so,  for  this  is  the  sepulchre  of  the  warrior  King 
Umzilikazi,  founder  and  first  monarch  of  the  Matabele  nation." 
Rhodesia  says  : — "  It  would  appear,  according  to  the  dis- 
covery of  a  Native  Commissioner,  that  the  hill  on  the  summit 
of  which  the  remains  of  Cecil  Rhodes  have  been  laid  is  known 
in  the  vernacular  as  '  Malindid/imo.1  The  literal  translation 
of  this  is  given  as  '  The  Home  of  the  Spirit  of  My  Forefathers,' 
or,  without  straining  the  meaning  unduly,  '  The  Home  of  tie 
Guardian  Spirit.'  It  does  not  appear  that  Mr.  Rhodes  was 
aware  of  this  rendering  when  he  expressed  a  desire  to  be 
buried  on  that  spot  after  his  race  was  run." 


HIS  PROPERTY  IN  RHODESIA.  5 

hill  to  be  preserved  as  a  burial-place  (c)  but  no 
person  is  to  be  buried  there  unless  the  Govern- 
ment for  the  time  being  of  Rhodesia  until  the 
various  states  of  South  Africa  or  any  of  them 
shall  have  been  federated  and  after  such  federa- 
tion the  Federal  Government  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  its  governing  body  says  that  he  or 
she  has  deserved  well  of  his  or  her  country. 

(2.)    His  Property  in  Rhodesia. 

I  give  free  of  all  duty  whatsoever  my  landed  The  Bula- 
property  near  Bulawayo  in  Matabeleland  Rhodesia  ™**°n  aand 
and    my    landed    property    at    or    near    Inyanga  Estates. 
near   Salisbury  in    Mashonaland   Rhodesia  to  my 
Trustees    hereinbefore    named    Upon    trust    that 
my  Trustees   shall   in   such   manner   as   in    their 
uncontrolled  discretion  they  shall  think  fit  culti- 
vate the  same  respectively  for  the   instruction  of 
the  people  of  Rhodesia. 

I    give    free  of  all    duty    whatsoever    to    my  The  Matop- 
Trustees    hereinbefore     named    such    a    sum    of  Pos! and 

i  i      11  r  11  •  i      •       Bulawayo 

money  as  they  shall  carefully  ascertain  and  in  Fund, 
their  uncontrolled  discretion  consider  ample  and 
sufficient  by  its  investments  to  yield  income 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  ,£4,000  sterling  per 
annum  and  not  less  and  I  direct  my  Trustees 
to  invest  the  same  sum  and  the  said  sum  and 


(c)  A  lady  writing  over  the  initials  "  S.  C.  S."  in  the 
Westminster  Gazette  says: — "Very  beautiful  is  a  little  story 
which  I  once  heard  told  of  Mr.  Rhodes  by  Mr.  G.  Wyndham. 
Beautiful,  because  it  contains  the  simple  expression  of  a  great 
thought,  said  quite  simply,  and  without  any  desire  to  produce 
effect,  in  private  to  a  friend.  Mr.  Wyndham  told  how,  during 
his  last  visit  to  Africa,  they  rode  together  on  to  the  summit  of 
a  hill  in  the  Matoppos,  which  commanded  a  view  of  fifty  miles 
in  every  direction.  Circling  his  hands  about  the  horizon,  Mr. 
Rhodes  said,  '  Homes,  more  homes;  that  is  what  I  work  for.'  " 


s. 

ex 
o 

•s 

§ 

<u 

5 

.a 


HIS   PROPERTY  IN  RHODESIA.  7 

the  investments  for  the  time  being  representing 
it  I   hereinafter  refer  to  as   "  the   Matoppos  and 
Bulawayo  fund  "  And   I  direct  that  my  Trustees 
shall  for  ever  apply  in  such  manner  as  in  their 
uncontrolled    discretion    they  shall    think  fit  the 
income  of  the  Matoppos  and  Bulawayo   Fund  in 
preserving  protecting  maintaining   adorning  and 
beautifying  the  said  burial-place  and  hill  and  their 
surroundings    and    shall    for  ever  apply   in   such 
manner  as  in  their  uncontrolled    discretion  they 
shall  think  fit  the  balance  of  the  income  of  the 
Matoppos    and    Bulawayo    Fund    and   any   rents 
and    profits    of  my  said    landed    properties  near 
Bulawayo  in  the  cultivation  as  aforesaid  of  such 
property     And  in  particular  I  direct  my  Trustees 
that  a  portion  of  my  Sauerdale  property  a  part 
of  my  said  landed    property  near   Bulawayo   be 
planted  with   every  possible    tree    and    be  made 
and  preserved   and  maintained  as  a  Park  for  the 
people  of  Bulawayo  and  that  they  complete  the 
dam  (d]    at    my    Westacre    property  if   it    is  not  Westacre 

Park,  its 

(d)  A  Daily  Telegraph  correspondent,  writing  from  Bulawayo  a 

on  Oct.  14,  1901,  gives  the  following  account  of  the  dam 
referred  to  in  the  will : — "  Mr.  Rhodes's  Matoppo  Dam  is  to 
be  used  in  connection  with  the  irrigation  of  a  portion  of  his 
farm  near  Bulawayo.  This  farm  is  situated  on  the  northern 
edge  of  the  Matoppos,  eighteen  miles  from  Bulawayo,  and 
through  it  runs  the  valley  of  a  tributary  from  the  Malima 
River.  This  tributary  is  dry  eight  months  in  the  yeir,  and  the 
land  around  consequently  parched.  Mr.  Rhodes  has  built  a 
huge  earthwork  wall  to  dam  the  tributary.  The  work  was 
commenced  in  May,  1899.  It  will  render  possible  the 
cultivation  of  some  2,000  to  3,000  acres  of  the  most  fertile  soil. 
The  total  cost  up  to  date  has  been  something  under  ^30,000. 
The  total  capacity  of  the  reservoir  is  900,000,000  gallons.  A 
small  body  of  water  was  conserved  last  season,  and  fifty  acres 
of  lucerne  planted  as  a  commencement.  It  is  doing  extremely 
well  under  irrigation.  The  site  of  the  works,  the  northern 
edge  of  the  Matoppos,  is  very  picturesque.  The  green  lucerne 
makes  a  delightful  contrast  against  the  dull  and  hazy  browns 


I 


HIS  PROPERTY  IN  RHODESIA.  9 

completed  at  my  death  and  make  a  short  railway 
line  from  Bulawayo  to  Westacre  so  that  the 
people  of  Bulawayo  may  enjoy  the  glory  of  the 
Matoppos  from  Saturday  to  Monday. 

I  give  free  of  all  duty  whatsoever  to  my  Theinyanga 
Trustees  hereinbefore  named  such  a  sum  of  Fund- 
money  as  they  shall  carefully  ascertain  and  in 
their  uncontrolled  discretion  consider  ample  and 
sufficient  by  its  investments  to  yield  income 
amounting  to  the  sum  of  ,£2,000  sterling  per 
annum  and  not  less  and  I  direct  my  Trustees  to 
invest  the  same  sum  and  the  said  sum  and  the 
investments  for  the  time  being  representing  it  I 
hereinafter  refer  to  as  "the  Inyanga  Fund." 
And  I  direct  that  my  Trustees  shall  for  ever 
apply  in  such  manner  as  in  their  absolute  dis- 
cretion they  shall  think  fit  the  income  of  the 
Inyanga  Fund  and  any  rents  and  profits  of  my 
said  landed  property  at  or  near  Inyanga  (e)  in 


of  the  surrounding  country  which  prevail  during  the  dry  season. 
An  hotel  has  been  built  on  some  rising  ground  overlooking 
the  dam,  and  it  is  expected  that  it  will  be  very  popular  as  a 
holiday  resort  for  the  youth  and  beauty  of  Bulawayo — become, 
in  fact,  the  African  replica  of  the  famous  Star  and  Garter  at 
Richmond." 

(e)  Mr.  Seymour  Fort,  writing  in  the  Empire  Review  for  May, 
1902,  says  : — "  Apart  from  his  position  as  managing  director  of 
the  British  South  Africa  Company,  Mr.  Rhodes  is  one  of  the 
chief  pioneer  agriculturists  in  Rhodesia,  and  has  spared  neither 
brain  nor  capital  in  endeavouring  to  develop  the  resources  of 
its  soil.  In  Manicaland  he  owns  a  block  of  farms  on  the 
high  Inyanga  plateau,  some  80,000  acres  in  extent,  where  on 
the  open  grass  country  he  is  breeding  cattle  and  horses,  while 
a  certain  portion  is  fenced  and  placed  under  cultivation. 
Great  things  are  expected  from  these  horse-breeding  experi- 
ments, as  the  Inyanga  hills  are  so  far  free  from  the  horse- 
sickness  so  prevalent  in  other  parts  of  South  Africa.  This 
plateau  forms  a  succession  of  downs  at  an  elevation  of  some 
6,000  feet  above  the  sea.  The  soil  is  alluvial,  of  rich  red 
colour  and  capable  of  growing  every  form  of  produce,  and  by 

B  2 


10 


.a 

rt 

h 


GROOTE  SCHUUR. 


1 1 


the  cultivation  of  such  property  and  in  particular  Irrigation. 
I    direct  that  with  regard  to   such  property  irri- 
gation should  be  the  first  object  of  my  Trustees. 

For  the  guidance  of  my  Trustees  I  wish   to  An  Agricul- 
record  that  in  the  cultivation  of  my  said  landed  l 
properties  I  include  such  things  as  experimental 
farming,  forestry,  market  and  other  gardening  and 
fruit  farming,  irrigation  and  the  teaching  of  any 
of  those  things  and  establishing  and  maintaining 
an  Agricultural  College. 


(3.)   Groote  Schuur. 

I   give   my  property  following  that  is  to  say 
my  residence  known  as  "  De  Groote  Schuur"  (_/) 


House  and 
furniture. 


merely  scratching  the  surface  the  natives  raise  crops  of  mealies 
and  other  cereals  superior  to  those  grown  elsewhere  in  Manica- 
land.  It  is  an  old  saying  in  South  Africa  that  you  find  no 
good  veldt  without  finding  Dutchmen,  and  several  Transvaal 
Boers  have  settled  in  the  neighbourhood.  English  fruit  trees 
flourish,  and  Mr.  Rhodes  has  laid  out  orchards  in  which  the 
orange,  apple,  and  pear  trees  (now  five  years  old)  have  borne 
well.  Very  interesting  also  are  the  evidences  of  an  old  and 
practically  unknown  civilisation — the  ancient  ruins,  the  mathe- 
matically constructed  water-courses  and  old  gold  workings 
which  are  to  be  seen  side  by  side  with  the  trans-African 
telegraph  to  Blantyre  and  Cairo  which  runs  through  the 
property,  and  connects  Tete  with  the  Zambesi." 

(/)  Mr.  Garrett,  writing  in  the  Pall  Mall  Magazine  for  May, 
1902,  says: — "If  you  would  see  Rhodes  on  his  most  winning 
side,  you  would  seek  it  at  Groote  Schuur.  It  lies  behind  the 
Devil  Peak,  which  is  a  flank  buttressed  by  the  great  bastion  of 
rock  that  is  called  Table  Mountain.  The  house  lies  low^ 
nestling  cosily  among  oaks.  It  was  built  in  accordance  with 
Mr.  Rhodes's  orders  to  keep  it  simple — beams  and  whitewash. 
It  was  originally  thatched,  but  ii  was  burnt  down  at  the  end 
of  1896.  and  everything  was  gutted  but  one  wing.  From  the 
deep-pillared  window  where  Mr.  Rhodes  mostly  sat,  and  the 
little  formal  garden,  the  view  leads  up  to  a  grassy  slope  and 
over  woodland  away  to  the  crest  of  the  buttressed  peak  and 
the  great  purple  precipices  of  Table  Mountain.  Through  the 
open  park  la.nd  and  wild  wood  koodoos,  gnus,  elands,  and 


12 


Approach  to  Groote  Schuur. 


GROOTE  SCHUUR.  13 

situate  near  Mowbray  in  the  Cape  Division  in  the 
said  Colony  together  with  all  furniture  plate  and 
other  articles  contained  therein  at  the  time  of  my 
death  and  all  other  land  belonging  to  me  situated 
under  Table  Mountain  including  my  property 
known  as  "Mosterts"  to  my  Trustees  herein-  Mosterts. 
before  named  upon  and  subject  to  the  conditions 
following  (that  is  to  say) : — 

(i.)  The  said  property  (excepting  any  Conditions. 
furniture  or  like  articles  which  have  become 
useless)  shall  not  nor  shall  any  portion  thereof 
at  any  time  be  sold  let  or  otherwise  alienated, 
(ii.)  No  buildings  for  suburban  residences 
shall  at  any  time  be  erected  on  the  said 
property  and  any  buildings  which  may  be 
erected  thereon  shall  be  used  exclusively  for 
public  purposes  and  shall  be  in  a  style  of 
architecture  similar  to  or  in  harmony  with 
my  said  residence. 

(iii.)  The  said  residence  and   its  gardens  Residence  of 
and  grounds  shall  be  retained  for  a  residence  premier. 
for  the  Prime  Minister  for  the  time  being  of 
the   said  Federal  Government  of  the  States 


other  African  animals  wander  at  will.  Only  the  savage  beasts 
are  confined  in  enclosures.  No  place  of  the  kind  is  so  freely, 
so  recklessly  shared  with  the  public.  The  estate  became  the 
holiday  resort  of  the  Cape  Town  masses ;  but  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  some  of  the  visitors  abused  their  privileges — 
maimed  and  butchered  rare  and  valuable  beasts,  and  careless 
picknickers  have  caused  great  havoc  in  the  woods  by  fire. 
Sometimes  the  visitors  treat  the  house  itself  as  a  free 
museum,  and  are  found  wandering  into  Mr.  Rhodes's  own 
rooms  or  composedly  reading  in  his  library.  Brown  people 
from  the  slums  of  Cape  Town  fill  the  pinafores  of  their 
children  with  flowers  plucked  in  his  garden,  and  wander  round 
the  house  as  if  it  were  their  own.  The  favourite  rendezvous 
in  the  ground  was  the  lion-house,  a  classical  lion-pit  in  which 
the  tawny  form  of  the  king  of  beasts  could  be  caught  sight  of 
between  marble  columns." 


16  THE    WILL   OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 

of  South  Africa  to  which  I  have  referred  in 
clause  6  hereof  my  intention  being  to  provide 
a  suitable  official  residence  for  the  First 
Minister  in  that  Government  befitting  the 
dignity  of  his  position  and  until  there  shall 
be  such  a  Federal  Government  may  be  used 
as  a  park  for  the  people  (g}. 

(g)  Writing  in  the  Times  on  the  artistic  side  of  Mr.  Rhodes, 
Mr.  Herbert  Baker,  his  architect,  says : — "  Artistic  problems 
first  presented  themselves  to  his  mind  when,  as  Premier  of 
Cape  Colony,  he  made  his  home  in  the  Cape  Peninsula.  His 
intense  and  genuine  love  of  the  big  and  beautiful  in  natural 
scenery  prompted  him  to  buy  as  much  as  he  could  of  the 
forest  slopes  of  Table  Mountain,  so  that  it  might  be  saved  for 
ever  from  the  hands  of  the  builder,  and  the  people,  attracted  to 
it  by  gardens,  wild  animals,  and  stately  architecture,  might  be 
educated  and  ennobled  by  the  contemplation  of  what  he 
thought  one  of  the  finest  views  in  the  world.  This  love  of 
mountain  and  distant  view — the  peaks  of  the  South  African 
plateaux  are  seen  100  miles  away  across  the  Cape  flats — was 
deep-seated  in  his  nature,  and  he  would  sit  or  ride  silently  for 
hours  at  a  time,  dreaming  and  looking  at  the  views  he  loved — 
a  political  poet. 

But  from  these  create  he  can 
Forms  more  real  than  living  man, 
Nurslings  of  Immortality. 

There  are  many  stones  of  him  telling  worried  and  disputing 
politicians  to  turn  from  their  "  trouble  of  ants  "  to  the  Moun- 
tain for  calm,  and  in  the  same  spirit  he  placed  the  stone 
Phoenician  hawk,  found  at  Zimbabye,  in  the  Cabinet  Council- 
room,  that  the  emblem  of  time  might  preside  over  their 
deliberations.  The  ennobling  influence  of  natural  scenery  was 
present  in  his  mind  in  connection  with  every  site  he  chose  and 
every  building  he  contemplated  ;  such  as  a  cottage  he  built, 
where  poets  or  artists  could  live  and  look  across  to  the  blue 
mountain  distance ;  a  University,  where  young  men  could  be 
surrounded  with  the  best  of  nature  and  of  art ;  a  lion-house,  a 
feature  of  which  was  to  have  been  a  long  open  colonnade, 
where  the  people  could  at  once  see  the  king  of  beasts  and  the 
lordliest  of  mountains  ;  the  Kimberley  "  Bath,"  with  its  white 
marble  colonnades  embedded  in  a  green  oasis  of  orange  grove 
and  vine  trellis,  looking  to  the  north  over  illimitable  desert. 
Such  things  would  perhaps  occur  to  most  men,  but  with  him 


GROOTE  SCHUUR.  17 

(iv.)  The  grave  of  the  late  Jan   Hendrik  The 
Hofmeyr  upon    the    said  property    shall  be  Hofmeyr 
protected  and  access  be  permitted  thereto  at 
all   reasonable   times  by  any  member  of  the 
Hofmeyr  family  for  the  purpose  of  inspection 
or  maintenance. 

I  give   to  my   Trustees    hereinbefore  named  The  Groote 
such  a  sum  of  money  as  they  shall  carefully  ascer-  |ch",ur 
tain  and  in  their  uncontrolled  discretion  consider 
to  be  ample  and  sufficient  to  yield  income  amount- 
ing to  the  sum  of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling 
per   annum    and    not  less  upon   trust   that   such 
income    shall    be  applied  and    expended    for  the 
purposes  following  (that  is  to  say)— 

(i.)  On  and  for  keeping  and  maintaining  its  objects. 
for  the  use   of  the   Prime    Minister  for  the 
time  being  of  the  said  Federal  Government 
of  at  least  two  carriage  horses  one  or  more 
carriages  and  sufficient  stable  servants. 

(ii.)  On  and  for  keeping  and  maintaining 
in  good  order  the  flower  and  kitchen  gardens 
appertaining  to  the  said  residence. 

(iii.)  On  and  for  the  payment  of  the  wages 
or  earnings  including  board  and  lodging  of 
two  competent  men  servants  to  be  housed 
kept  and  employed  in  domestic  service  in 
the  said  residence. 

(iv.)  On  and  for  the  improvement  repair 
renewal  and  insurance  of  the  said  residence 
furniture  plate  and  other  articles. 

they  were  a  passion,  almost  a  religion.  Of  his  more  monu- 
mental architectural  schemes  few  have  been  realised.  For 
these  his  taste  lay  in  the  direction  of  the  larger  and  simpler 
styles  of  Rome,  Greece,  and  even  Egypt,  recognizing  the 
similarity  of  the  climate  and  natural  scenery  of  South  Africa  to 
that  of  classic  Southern  Europe.  He  had  the  building  ambition 
of  a  Pericles  or  a  Hadrian,  and  in  his  untimely  death  architec- 
ture has  the  greatest  cause  to  mourn." 


The  Hall. 

Dealers  were  in  the  habit  of  leaving  curios  in  the  hall  for  Mr.  Rhodes' s  inspection. 


A  The  Library. 

Showing  stone  figure  (Phcenician  hawk}  from  ancient  gold  workings  in  Rhodesia. 

\ 


'9 


The  Billiard-room. 


The  Panelled  Room. 


20  THE    WILL   OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 

I  direct  that  subject  to  the  conditions  and 
trusts  hereinbefore  contained  the  said  Federal 
Government  shall  from  the  time  it  shall  be  con- 
stituted have  the  management  administration  and 
control  of  the  said  devise  and  legacy  and  that 
my  Trustees  shall  as  soon  as  may  be  thereafter 
vest  and  pay  the  devise  and  legacy  given  by  the 
two  last  preceding  clauses  hereof  in  and  to  such 
Government  if  a  corporate  body  capable  of 
accepting  and  holding  the  same  or  if  not  then 
in  some  suitable  corporate  body  so  capable 
named  by  such  Government  and  that  in  the 
meantime  my  Trustees  shall  in  their  uncontrolled 
discretion  manage  administer  and  control  the  said 
devise  and  legacy. 

(4.)    Bequests  to  Oriel  College,  Oxford. 

I  give  the  sum  of  ,£100,000  free  of  all  duty 
whatsoever  to  my  old  college  Oriel  College  in  the 
University  of  Oxford  (//)  and  I  direct  that  the 

(/;)  In  the  list  of  the  Masters  of  Arts  of  Oriel  College,  in 
the  year  1881,  occurs  this  entry:  "Rhodes,  Cecil  John,"  to 
which  a  note  is  added,  "late  Premier  of  the  Cape  Colony." 

Tradition  says  that  Oriel  was  first  founded  by  Edward  II., 
who  vowed  as  he  fled  from  Bannockburn  he  would  found  a 
religious  house  in  the  Virgin's  honour  if  only  Our  Lady  would 
save  from  the  pursuing  Scot.  Edward  III.  gave  the  University 
the. mansion  called  Le  Oriole  which  stood  on  the  present  site 
of  the  College. 

A  portrait  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  hangs  on  the  walls  of  the 
College  Hall. 

The  present  income  of  the  College  is  said  to  be  not  more 
than  ,£7,500  per  annum.  The  revenue  of  the  twenty-one 
Colleges  of  Oxford  is  £206, 102,  or  less  than  ^10,000  each. 

The  present  Provost  of  Oriel  is  David  Binning  Monro :  he 
is  also  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University.  Among  the  hon. 
Fellows  are  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith,  Lord  Goschen,  and  Mr.  Bryce. 

Among  the  famous  names  associated  with  Oriel  besides  those 
of  Raleigh  and  Rhodes  are  the  following : — Archbishop 


BEQUESTS   TO   ORIEL   COLLEGE,    OXFORD.       21 

receipt  of  the  Bursar  or  other  proper  officer  of  the 

College  shall  be  a  complete  discharge   for   that 

legacy  and  inasmuch  as  I  gather  that  the  erection 

of  an  extension  to   High  Street  of  the   College  For  College 

buildings  would  cost  about  ,£22,500  and  that  the  buildings. 

loss   to   the   College   revenue   caused   by   pulling 

down  of  houses  to  make  room  for  the  said  new 

College  buildings  would  be  about  ,£250  per  annum 

I  direct  that  the  sum  of  ,£40,000  part  of  the  said 

sum  of  .£100,000  shall  be  applied  in  the  first  place 

in  the  erection  of  the  said  new  College  buildings  (z) 

and  that  the  remainder  of  such  sum  of  ,£40,000 

shall  be  held  as  a  fund  by  the  income  whereof 

the  aforesaid  loss  to  the  College  revenue  shall  so 

tar  as  possible  be  made  good. 

And  inasmuch  as    I   gather  that    there    is    a  Resident 

j    c.    •  •      ii_      /^    11  r  r  Fellows. 

deficiency  in  the  College  revenue  of  some  &  1,500 
per  annum  whereby  the  Fellowships  are  impover- 
ished and  the  status  of  the  College  is  lowered  I 


Arundel,  Cardinal  Allen,  Bishop  Butler,  Prynne,  Langland, 
author  of  "  Piers  Plowman"  ;  Barclay,  author  of  "The  Ship 
of  Fools  "  ;  Gilbert  White,  author  of  the  "  Natural  History  of 
Selborne " ;  Thomas  Hughes,  author  of  "  Tom  Brown's 
Schooldays";  Dr.  Arnold,  Bishop  Wilberforce,  Archbishop 
Whately,  Cardinal  Newman,  Dr.  Pusey,  John  Keble,  Bishop 
Hampden. 

(/')  The  extension  of  Oriel  College  cannot  at  present  take 
place.  St.  Mary  Hall,  which  adjoins  the  College,  belongs  to 
the  Principal  (Dr.  Chase),  who  was  appointed  to  that  position 
as  far  back  as  December,  1857.  A  statute  made  by  the  last 
Commission  provided  that  upon  his  death  St.  Mary  Hall  shall 
be  merged  into  Oriel  College.  The  College  has  always  con- 
templated, sooner  or  later,  an  extension  of  its  buildings  to 
High  Street.  The  Hall  runs  close  up  to  the  houses  facing  the 
University  Church,  and  the  majority  of  these  premises  already 
belong  to  Oriel  College.  The  northern  side  of  the  quadrangle 
of  St.  Mary  Hall  will  ultimately  be  pulled  down,  together  with 
the  High  Street  shops,  and  the  new  buildings  will  face  the 
main  thoroughfare  on  the  one  hand  and  the  quadrangle  on 
the  other. 


22 


THE    WILL    OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 


The  High 
Table. 


direct  that  the  sum  of  ,£40,000  further  part  of  the 
said  sum  of  ,£100,000  shall  be  held  as  a  fund  by 
the  income  whereof  the  income  of  such  of  the 
resident  Fellows  of  the  College  as  work  for  the 
honour  and  dignity  of  the  College  shall  be 
increased  (/). 

And  I  further  direct  that  the  sum  of  £10,000 
further  part  of  the  said  sum  of  £100,000  shall  be 
held  as  a  fund  by  the  income  whereof  the  dignity 
and  comfort  of  the  High  Table  may  be  maintained 
by  which  means  the  dignity  and  comfort  of  the 
resident  Fellows  may  be  increased. 

And  I  further  direct  that  the  sum  of  £10,000 
the  remainder  of  the  said  sum  of  .£100,000  shall 
be  held  as  a  repair  fund  the  income  whereof  shall 
be  expended  in  maintaining  and  repairing  the 
College  buildings. 

And  finally  as  the  College  authorities  live 
the^childhke  secluded  from  the  world  and  so  are  like  children  (k] 
as  to  commercial  matters  I  would  advise  them  to 


Repair 
Fund. 


Counsel  to 


(/)  A  senior  member  of  Oriel  when  interviewed  on  the 
subject  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  bequests  said : — "  The  College 
revenues  do  not  admit  at  present  of  their  paying  the  Fellows  as 
much  as  the  Commission  contemplated,  and  so  far  they  had 
been  at  a  disadvantage.  Mr.  Rhodes  probably  became  aware 
of  this  fact,  and  wished  to  enable  the  College  to  reach  the 
limit  set  by  the  Commission,  ^200  a  year,  as  the  maximum. 
The  limit  imposed  by  the  Commissioners  will  not  apply  to 
Mr.  Rhodes's  bequest,  it  being  a  new  endowment,  so  that  not 
only  may  the  emoluments  of  the  Fellowships  reach  the  figure 
specified  by  the  Commissioners,  but  go  beyond  that.  So  far 
Oriel  College  has  not  been  able  to  rise  to  the  level  which  the 
Commissioners  considered  a  proper  amount.  As  to  the 
amount  set  apart  for  the  High  Table,  we  do  not  want  more 
comforts  or  luxuries,  we  are  quite  happy  as  we  are.  We  have 
enough  to  eat,  but  still,  it  was  very  kind  of  Mr.  Rhodes  to 
think  of  us  in  that  way." 

(K)  Possibly  Cecil  Rhodes  was  thinking  when  lie  spoke  of  the 
childlike  and  secluded  Don  of  a  story  current  in  his  day  at 
Oriel — and  current  still — of  John  Keble,  who  was  better  at 


THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT   OXFORD.  23 

consult  my  Trustees  as  to  the  investment  of  these 
various  funds  for  they  would  receive  great  help 
and  assistance  from  the  advice  of  my  Trustees  in 
such  matters  and  I  direct  that  any  investment 
made  pursuant  to  such  advice  shall  whatsoever  it 
may  be  be  an  authorized  investment  for  the  money 
applied  in  making  it. 

(5.)   The  Scholarships  at  Oxford. 

Whereas    I    consider    that    the    education    of  Objects  of 
young  Colonists  at  one  of  the  Universities  in  the  Education. 
United  Kingdom  is  of  great  advantage  to  them 
for  giving  breadth  to  their  views  for  their  instruc- 
tion in  life  and  manners  (/)  and  for  instilling  into 
their  minds  the  advantage  to  the  Colonies  as  well 
as  to  the  United  Kingdom  of  the  retention  of  the 
unity  of  the  Empire. 


Christian  poetry  than  at  worldly  calculation.  One  day  Keble, 
who  was  Bursar,  discovered  to  his  horror  that  the  College 
accounts  came  out  nearly  two  thousand  pounds  on  the  wrong 
side.  The  learned  and  pious  men  of  Oriel  tried  to  find  the 
weak  spot,  but  it  was  not  until  expert  opinion  was  called  that 
they  found  that  Keble,  casting  up  a  column,  had  added  the 
date  of  the  year  to  Oriel's  debts  ! 

(/)  Mr.  Rhodes,  speaking  to  Mr.  Iwan  Miiller  on  the  subject 
of  his  scholarships,  said  : — "  A  lot  of  young  Colonials  go  to 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  come  back  with  a  certain  anti- 
English  feeling,  imagining  themselves  to  have  been  slighted 
because  they  were  Colonials.  That,  of  course,  is  all  nonsense. 
I  was  a  Colonial,  and  I  knew  everybody  I  wanted  to  know, 
and  everybody  who  wanted  to  knew  me.  The  explanation  is 
that  most  of  these  youngsters  go  there  on  the  strength  of 
scholarships,  and  insufficient  allowances,  and  are  therefore 
practically  confined  to  one  set,  that  of  men  as  poor  as  them- 
selves, who  use  the  University  naturally  and  quite  properly  only 
as  a  stepping-stone  to  something  else.  They  are  quite  right, 
but  they  don't  get  what  I  call  a  University  Education,  which  is 
the  education  of  rubbing  shoulders  with  every  kind  of  indi- 
vidual and  class  on  absolutely  equal  terms  ;  therefore  a  very 
poor  man  can  never  get  the  full  value  of  an  Oxford  training." 


THE    WILL    OF  CECIL  J.  RHODES. 


Advantages 
of  Residence. 


Edinburgh 

Medical 

School. 


The  Union 
of  the 
English- 
speaking 
Peoples. 


And  whereas  in  the  case  of  young  Colonists 
studying  at  a  University  in  the  United  Kingdom 
I  attach  very  great  importance  to  the  University 
having  a  residential  system  such  as  is  in  force  at 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  for 
without  it  those  students  are  at  the  most  critical 
period  of  their  lives  left  without  any  supervision. 

And  whereas  there  are  at  the  present  time  50 
or  more  students  from  South  Africa  studying  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh  many  of  whom  are 
attracted  there  by  its  excellent  medical  school  and 
I  should  like  to  establish  some  of  the  Scholarships 
hereinafter  mentioned  in  that  University  but 
owing  to  its  not  having  such  a  residential  system 
as  aforesaid  I  feel  obliged  to  refrain  from  doing 
so.  And  whereas  my  own  University  the 
University  of  Oxford  has  such  a  system  and  I 
suggest  that  it  should  try  and  extend  its  scope  so 
as  if  possible  to  make  its  medical  school  at 
least  as  good  as  that  at  the  University  of 
Edinburgh  (m). 

And  whereas  I  also  desire  to  encourage  and 
foster  an  appreciation  of  the  advantages  which  I 

(m)  "Mr.  Rhodes,"  says  "A  Senior  Member  of  Oriel," 
"  suggests  that  the  University  shall  develop  a  medical  school 
of  the  kind  they  have  in  Edinburgh.  That  might  involve  a 
considerable  expense  on  the  University  which  it  is  hardly  in  a 
position  to  bear,  being  very  short  of  money  as  it  is.  The 
question  of  a  medical  school  has  been  often  discussed,  and  so 
far  the  conclusion  arrived  at  has  been  adverse  to  the  idea  of 
the  establishment  of  a  medical  school  at  Oxford.  It  has  been 
considered  that  the  infirmary  at  Oxford  is  not  big  enough,  and 
the  cases  are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  provide  practical 
experience  for  the  students.  The  idea  has  been  that  they 
should  get  their  general  knowledge  at  Oxford,  and  then  obtain 
practical  hospital  work  elsewhere." 

Commenting  upon  this,  a  distinguished  Oxford  Professor 
said  : — "  The  opinion  expressed  by  a  senior  member  of  Oriel 
College  of  the  present  position  of  the  Medical  School  in 


Marble  Bath-room,  Groote  Schuur. 


;» '-- 


Mr.  Rhodes's  Bedroom. 

The  bed  was  made  by  local  craftsmen  from  a  South  African  wood  of  great  hardness. 

C  2 


26 


Copyright  reserved.} 


From  Mr.  Tennyson-Cole's  Portrait  of  Mr.  Rhodes. 

(Purchased  by  Oriel  College,  Oxford.) 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP   AT  OXFORD.  27 

implicitly  believe  will  result  from  the  union  of  the 
English-speaking  peoples  throughout  the  world 
and  to  encourage  in  the  students  from  the  United 
States  of  North  America  who  will  benefit  from 
the  American  Scholarships  to  be  established  for 
the  reason  above  given  at  the  University  of 
Oxford  under  this  my  Will  an  attachment  to  the 
country  from  which  they  have  sprung  but  without 


Oxford  is  in  the  main  correct,  but  contains  one  sentence 
which  conveys  an  erroneous  impression  of  the  present  attitude 
of  the  University  in  relation  to  medical  teaching. 

"A  medical  education  comprises  three  kinds  of  study, 
each  of  which  must  be  of  first-rate  quality.  One  of  these  is 
preliminary,  and  consists  in  the  theoretical  and  practical  study 
of  general  science.  The  second  comprises  anatomy,  physi- 
ology, pathology,  pharmacology,  and  hygiene.  The  third  is 
purely  professional,  and  corresponds  to  what  used  to  be  called 
walking  the  hospitals. 

"  The  subject  of  the  first,  namely,  inorganic  and  organic 
chemistry,  natural  philosophy,  and  biology  are  now  amply 
provided  for  in  the  University.  We  have  laboratories  which 
are  well  equipped  for  present  needs,  though  no  doubt  they 
may  require  extension  at  a  future  period ;  and  very  complete 
collections  for  illustrating  the  instruction  given  in  zoology  and 
bo'.any. 

"  Tne  subjects  of  the  second  part  are  those  which 
.constitute  the  science  of  medicine  as  distinguished  from  its 
practice.  A  physiological  department  was  established  some 
fifteen  years  ago,  the  equipment  of  which  will  certainly  bear 
comparison  with  any  other  in  the  country.  More  space  is, 
however,  required  for  the  development  of  certain  branches  of 
the  subject.  The  department  of  human  anatomy  has  been 
completed  for  ten  years. 

"It  has  a  museum,  a  commodious  dissecting-room  with 
all  modern  improvements,  and  all  other  adjuncts  that  are 
required  for  the  teaching  of  a  subject  so  important  to  medicine. 
The  pathological  laboratory  was  opened  by  the  Vice-Chancellor 
six  months  ago.  It  is  more  closely  related  to  practical  medi- 
cine than  the  others,  and  constitutes  a  common  ground 
between  the  University  and  the  Radcliffe  Infirmary.  As 
regards  the  building  and  the  internal  arrangements,  it  is  all 
that  could  be  desired,  but  the  funds  available  for  its  complete 


28 


The  Shangani  Monument. 

These  are  small  reproductions  of  tw3  oj  four  bas-reliefs  which  are  being  made 
by  Mr.  John  Tweed,  the  sculptor,  for  the  monument  to  the  men  who  fell  in 
the  first  MataMe  War  at  Shangani.  (See  page  4.) 


THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD.  29 

I    hope    withdrawing   them   or  their   sympathies 
from  the  land  of  their  adoption  or  birth. 

Now  therefore   I   direct  my  Trustees  as  soon  Three-year 
as  may  be  after  my  death  and  either  simultaneously  scholar- 
or  gradually  as  they  shall  find  convenient  and  if  ships. 
gradually  then  in  such  order  as  they  shall  think 
fit  to  establish  for  male  students  the  Scholarships 
hereinafter    directed    to    be    established    each    of 
which  shall  be  of  the  yearly  value  of  ^300  and 
be  tenable  at  any  College  in  the   University  of 
Oxford  for  three  consecutive  academical  years  (n}. 


equipment  are  inadequate,  nor  has  the  University  as  yet  been 
able  to  provide  sufficient  remuneration  for  the  teaching  staff. 

"  The  only  branches  of  medical  science,  for  the  teaching  of 
which  special  departments  have  not  yet  been  established,  are 
pharmacology  (action  of  drugs)  and  public  health. 

"  As  regards  the  third  part  of  the  medical  curriculum,  viz., 
instruction  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  the  University  had 
adopted  the  principle  that  the  two  or  three  years  which  its 
students  must  devote  to  their  purely  professional  studies 
must  be  spent  where  the  existence  of  great  hospitals  affords 
opportunities  for  seeing  medical  and  surgical  practice  in  all 
its  branches. 

"  As  regards  medicine,  Oxford  has  been  for  the  last  dozen 
years  providing  what  it  considers  the  best  possible  education. 
The  practical  difficulty  which  prevents  many  from  taking 
advantage  of  it  is  the  long  duration  of  the  total  period  of 
study.  The  Oxford  student  of  medicine  must  spend  some  six 
or  seven  years,  reckoned  from  the  date  of  matriculation  to  the 
completion  of  his  hospital  work.  This  time  cannot  be 
shortened  with  advantage.  For  those  who  come  with  the 
income  to  which  Mr.  Rhodes's  munificent  bequest  affords  this 
•difficulty  will  scarcely  exist.  The  scholarship  will  abundantly 
provide  for  the  years  spent  in  Oxford  and  enable  its  holders 
to  compete  with  advantage  for  the  Hospital  Scholarships  which 
have  been  already  mentioned." 

(n)  The  Rev.  W.  Greswell,  M.A.,  wrote  to  the  Times  on 
April  9th  as  follows  : — "  A  scholarship  foundation  given  during 
his  lifetime  by  the  Right  Hon.  C.  J.  Rhodes  has  already  been 
in  force  at  the  Diocesan  College,  Rondebosch,  near  Cape 
Town.  This  year  two  members  of  the  college — W.  T. 
Yeoman  and  F.  Reid — have  been  awarded  ^175  per  annum 


30  THE    WILL    OP    CECIL   J.  RHODES. 

I    direct    my    Trustees    to    establish    certain 
Scholarships    and    these    Scholarships    I    some- 


and  ^125  per  annum  respectively  in  order  to  help  them  to  go 
to  one  of  the  colleges  at  Oxford  and  continue  the  studies 
they  have  begun  at  the  Cape.  Originally  the  endowment  was 
of  ^£250  per  annum  for  a  single  scholarship,  tenable  for  three 
years  at  Oxford;  but  quite  recently,  by  an  additional  act  of 
generosity  on  the  part  of  the  donor,  ^50  per  annum  was 
added  to  the  value  of  the  scholarship,  bringing  it  up  to  ^300 
per  annum.  At  the  same  time  a  discretionary  power  was 
given  to  the  Diocesan  College  to  apportion  the  whole  sum, 
pro  hac  vice,  between  the  first  two  competitors,  if  it  seemed  ex- 
pedient to  do  so  and  if  the  parents  were  willing  and  able  to 
add  something  of  their  own.  For  Mr.  Rhodes  always  thought 
that  a  student  coming  to  Oxford  should  have  a  thoroughly 
sufficient,  if  not  good,  allowance,  in  order  that  he  might  enter 
into  every  phase  of  University  life  without  the  ever-present 
thought  of  the  '  res  angusta  domi.'  The  scholars-elect  are 
still  continuing  their  studies  at  the  college  at  Rondebosch  until 
such  time  as  they  are  ready  to  proceed  to  Oxford  in  1903. 
Mr.  Rhodes  made,  in  the  case  of  the  Diocesan  College,  some- 
what the  same  stipulation  as  to  tests  and  proficiency  as  in  his 
subsequent  magnificent  endowments." 

The  Bursar  of  Christ  Church  being  questioned  as  to  the 
point  whether  the  ^300  a  year  would  close  the  gates  of  Christ 
Church  to  the  Rhodes  scholars,  Mr.  Skene  pointed  out  that 
it  all  depended  on  the  question  whether  the  ^300  a  year  was 
to  keep  the  scholars  the  whole  year  through,  both  in  term  time 
at  the  University  and  in  vacation  elsewhere,  or  merely  during 
the  University  years  of  six  months.  "  If  the  latter,"  he  said, 
"  then  ^300  a  year  will  keep  them  comfortably  enough  at 
Christ  Church,  and  will  enable  them  to  enter  into  the  social 
and  varied  life  of  the  House.  But  if  this  amount  is  also  to 
serve  for  vacation  expenses,  the  balance  left  for  the  University 
will  make  it  impossible,  or,  at  any  rate,  inadvisable,  for  them 
to  come  to  Christ  Church." 

A  senior  member  of  Oriel  says  Mr.  Rhodes  contemplated 
that  the  sum  he  provides  shall  be  sufficient  to  maintain  the 
recipients,  together  with  their  personal  expenses,  travelling, 
clothing,  etc.,  and  to  enable  them  to  mix  freely  in  the  society 
of  the  place  and  take  a  position  amongst  men  who  are  well 
equipped  in  this  world's  goods.  An  ordinary  young  man  at 
Oxford — I  don't  say  at  this  college — would  be  comfortably  off 
with  an  allowance  of  ^250  a  year,  and  many  parents  allow 


THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD.  31 

times  hereinafter  refer  to  as  "the  Colonial 
Scholarships.  "(0) 

their  sons  that  amount.  Mr.  Rhodes  makes  it  ^300— 
probably  he  took  into  consideration  that  people  coming  from 
abroad  would  have  to  face  extra  expenditure  in  the  shape  of 
travelling  expenses. 

(0}  Mr.  Stevenson,  of  Exeter  College,  says  there  already 
exists  in  Oxford  a  small  Colonial  club  for  occasional  meetings 
and  dinners  and  the  supply  of  friendly  information.  But  the 
Colonials  whom  I  have  known  very  readily  merge  in  the 
surrounding  mass  of  undergraduates.  There  are  several 
Colonials  and  Americans,  for  example,  at  Balliol,  and  Corpus, 
and  Lincoln,  and  St.  John's.  Morally  they  are  strong  men, 
and  they  are  popular.  Then  they  are  good  athletes.  We  had 
two  Americans  in  the  boat  this  year.  If  Mr.  Rhodes's  trust 
should  be  the  means  of  our  getting  some  gigantic  Colonials — 
or  even  Boers,  for  he  excludes  no  race — who  can  do  great 
things,  say,  at  putting  the  weight,  we  may  be  able  to  wipe  out 
Cambridge  altogether  !  All  Oxonians  would  agree  that  that 
would  be  a  great  achievement. 


Photograph  by] 


Oriel  College,  Oxford. 


[Taunt,  Oxford. 


THE    WILL   OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 


The  Colonial 
Scholar- 
ships. 


The  appropriation  of  the  Colonial  Scholar- 
ships and  the  numbers  to  be  annually  filled  up 
shall  be  in  accordance  with  the  following  table  :— 


r 

total  No. 
Appro- 
priated. 

To  be  tenable  by  Students  of 
or  from 

No.  of  Scholar- 
ships to  be 
Filled  up  in 
each  Year. 

9 

Rhodesia 

3  and  no  more 

3 

The  South  African  Col- 

lege School  in   the 
Colony  of  the  Cape 

i  and  no  more 

of  Good  Hope. 

3 

The  Stellenbosch  Col-j 

lege  School  in  the  I 

i  and  no  more 

same  Colony 

South  Africa  24  , 

3 

The  Diocesan  College 

School    of    Ronde- 

i  and  no  more 

bosch  in  the  same 

Colony 

3 

St.  Andrew's   College") 

School       Grahams-  ? 

i  and  no  more 

town 

3 

The  Colony  of  Natal) 
in  the  same  Colony) 

i  and  no  more 

3 

The  Colony  of  New) 
South  Wales             ) 

i  and  no  more 

3 

The  Colony  of  Victoria     i  and  no  more 

3 

The  Colony  of  South)    x  and  no  more 

Australia                    ) 

3 

The  Colony  of  Queens- 

i and  no  more 

Australasia  .  21 

land 

3 

The  Colony  of  Western 

;  i  and  no  more 

Australia 

3 

The   Colony  of  Tas- 

i and  no  more 

mania 

,     3 

The    Colony   of  New 

i  and  no  more 

Zealand 

3 

The  Province  of  On-1 

tario  in  the  Domi-V  i  and  no  more 

Canada  .      .     6 

3 

nion  of  Canada 
The  Province  of  Que-] 

bee  in  the  Dominion 

>  i  and  no  more 

of  Canada 

3 

The  Colony  or  Island 

of      Newfoundland 

i  and  no  more 

Atlantic     Is- 

and     its      Depen- 

lands .      .     6 

dencies 

,     3 

The  Colony  or  Islands" 

i  and  no  more 

of  the  Bermudas      ' 

West  Indies    3 

3 

The  Colony  or  Island" 

i  and  no  more 

— 

of  Jamaica                \ 

Total  .    60 

20  (  f>} 

THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD, 


33 


I     further    direct    my    Trustees    to    establish  American 
additional  Scholarships    sufficient   in   number  for  s 
the    appropriation    in    the  next    following    clause 
hereof  directed   and   those  Scholarships  I  some- 


(/)  The    following    is    a  list   of    Colonies    to  which   no 
Scholarships  have  been  appropriated  :  — 

POPULATION. 
WHITE.                       COLOURED. 
CANADA  Nova  Scotia       459.000      
New  Brunswick        331,000       
Prince  Edward  Island      ...        103,250       about 
Manitoba     246,500       ...                     100,000 
North-West  Territories  ...        220,000       
British  Columbia       190,000       

WEST  INDIES        ...     Bahamas     
Leeward  Islands 
Windward  Islands    ... 

i  549,750       100,000 

15,000       38,000 
5,000       122,500 
5,000       92,500 

MEDITERRANEAN... 

Trinidad  and  Tobago 

Gibraltar      
Malta  

10,000       262,000 

50,000                                695,000 
22,000       

264,000                                179,000 

20,000                             3,922,000 

Hong  Kong        

2,500                                  97,500 
3,75'                                  621,^0^ 

i  S'Q                                          ' 

' 

The  following  is 
have  been  allotted  :- 

SOUTH  AFRICA 
AUSTRALASIA 

CANADA  
ATLANTIC  ISLANDS 
WEST  INDIES 
TOTAL     . 

the  population  of 

Rhodesia     
Cape  Colony       
Natal   
New  South  Wales     .. 

the  Colonies  to  which  scholarships 

POPULATION.          SCHOLAR- 
WHITE.        COLOURED.        SHIPS. 
n,coo      ...    800,000      ...      9 
500,000      ...1,850,000      ...     12 
64,900      ...    865,000      ...      3 
...   1,35^,000       ...        7,200       .          3 

South  Australia  
Queensland         
Western  Australia.    .. 
New  Zeiland      
Tasmania     
Ontario        

...       353,000       ...         7,000       ...       3 
473,000       ...       30,200       ...       3 
152,500       ...       30,000       ...       3 
770,000       ...       46,030       ...       3 
...       173,000       ...        ...       3 
...  2,168,000       ...        ...       3 

Jamaica       

15,000       ...      730,000     ...       3 

Thus  a  population  of  13,460,000  persons  in  the  British  Colonies  is 
allotted  60  scholarships.  A  population  of  76,000,000  in  the  United  States 
is  only  allowed  100  scholarships.  But  a  population  of  7,405,000  persons, 
excluding  India,  Nigeria  and  Egypt,  are  allotted  no  scholarships  at  all. 
The  average  of  scholarships  to  population  is  one  in  760,000  in  the  United 
States,  and  one  in  224,000  in  the  fifteen  British  Colonies  to  which  they  have 
been  allotted.  If  the  omitted  British  Colonies  were  dealt  with  on  the  same 
scale  as  the  fifteen,  33  new  scholarships  would  have  to  be  founded. 


34 


THE    WILL   OF  CECIL  J.  RHODES. 


times    hereinafter    refer    to    as     "  the    American 
Scholarships." 

I  appropriate  two  of  the  American  Scholar- 
ships to  each  of  the  present  States  and  Territories 
of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  (q]  Pro- 

(g)  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  States  and  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  with  their  population  at  the  time  of  the  last 
census  : — 

POPULATION — UNITED  STATES,  1900. 


STATE. 

POI'ULATION. 

STATE. 

POPULATION. 

Alabama 

1,828,697 

Rhode  Island 

428,556 

Arkansas 

i,3II>564 

South  Carolina     . 

I,340,3l6 

California 

1,485,053 

South  Dakota 

401,570 

Colorado 

539.7°° 

Tennessee 

2,O2O,6l6 

Connecticut. 

908,355 

Texas 

3,048,710 

Delaware 

184,735 

Utah  .      .      . 

276,749 

Florida   . 

528,542 

Vermont  . 

343,641 

Georgia  . 

2,216,331 

Virginia    . 

1,854,184 

Idaho 

161,772 

Washington    . 

5l8,I03 

Illinois    . 

4,821,550 

West  Virginia 

958,800 

Indiana  . 

2,516,462 

Wisconsin 

2,069,042 

Iowa 

2,231,853 

Wyoming. 

92,531 

Kansas  . 

i,47o,495 

Kentucky     . 

2,i47,i74 

45  STATES.  TOTAL 

74,610,523 

Louisiana 

1,381,625 

Maine     . 

694,466 

Maryland 

1,190,050 

TERRITORIES,  ETC. 

Massachusetts    . 

2,805,346 

Alaska  . 

63,441 

Michigan 

2.420,982 

A  rizona 

122,931 

Minnesota    . 
Mississippi   . 

1,751.394 

loS1,  27° 

District  of  Col-) 
umbia     .      $ 

278,718 

Missouri 

3.106,665 

Hawaii  . 

154,001 

Montana 
Nebraska 

243,329 
'1,068,539 

Indian    Terri-j 
tory  .      .      J 

391,960 

Nevada  . 

42,335 

New  Mexico    . 

195,310 

New  Hampshire 

411,588 

Oklahama  . 

398,245 

New  Jersey  . 

1,883,669 

PERSONS    IN 

New  York    . 

7,268,012 

SERVICE 

North  Carolina  . 

1,893,810 

STATIONED 

84,400 

North  Dakota    . 

319,146 

ABROAD. 

Ohio       .      .      . 

4,157,545 

5  Territories. 

Oregon   . 

4i3,536 

Pennsylvania 

6,302,115     U.S.  TOTAL    . 

76,299,529 

THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD.  35 

vided  that  if  any  of  the  said  Territories  shall 
in  my  lifetime  be  admitted  as  a  State  the 
Scholarships  appropriated  to  such  Territory 
shall  be  appropriated  to  such  State  and  that 
my  Trustees  may  in  their  uncontrolled  dis- 
cretion withhold  for  such  time  as  they  shall 
think  fit  the  appropriation  of  Scholarships  to  any 
Territory. 

I  direct  that  of  the  two  Scholarships 
appropriated  to  a  State  or  Territory  not 
more  than  one  shall  be  filled  up  in  any  year  so 
that  at  no  time  shall  more  than  two  Scholar- 
ships be  held  for  the  same  State  or  Terri- 
tory, (r) 

By    Codicil    executed    in    South    Africa    Mr.   German 
Rhodes   after  stating  that  the  German  Emperor  Sc.holar- 

,       ,  ,  .  °     .       i~i       €.  .  ,  .       ships. 

had  made  instruction  m  English  compulsory  in 
German  schools  establishes  fifteen  Scholarships 
at  Oxford  (five  in  each  of  the  first  three  years 
after  his  death)  of  ^250  each  tenable  for  three 
years  for  students  of  German  birth  to  be  nomi- 
nated by  the  German  Emperor  for  "  a  good 
understanding  between  England  Germany  and 
the  United  States  of  America  will  secure  the 

(r)  Mr.  Stevenson,  of  Exeter  College,  told  an  interviewer 
recently  a  good  story  of  an  American  who  came  to  Oxford 
without  a  scholarship  or  other  aid.  He  was  a  wild  Westerner, 
and  unceremoniously  walked  into  a  college  one  day  and  asked 
to  see  the  Head.  He  then  asked  to  be  admitted  on  the  books. 
He  had  no  particular  references,  but  clearly  was  a  strong  man. 
After  some  time  he  was  admitted.  He  read  hard  and  played 
hard.  In  the  long  vacation  he  returned  to  America  and  worked 
for  his  living— at  one  time  as  a  foreman  of  bricklayers — and 
brought  back  enough  money  to  go  on  with.  In  the  Christmas 
"  vac."  he  went  to  America  and  lectured  on  Oxford  and 
England,  and  again  brought  back  more  money.  And  so  he 
gradually  kept  his  terms  and  eventually  took  double  honours. 
"  He  was  very  well  read  :  most  interesting  :  most  enthusiastic. 
We  could  do  with  many  like  him." 


THE    WILL    OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 


The  selec- 
tion of  the 
scholars. 


The  four 
qualifica- 
tions. 


peace  of  the  world  and  educational  relations  form 
the  strongest  tie."  (s) 

My  desire  being  that  the  students  who  shall 
be  elected  to  the  Scholarships  shall  not  be 
merely  bookworms  I  direct  that  in  the  election 
of  a  student  to  a  Scholarship  regard  shall 
be  had  to 

(i.)  his  literary  and  scholastic  attainments 
(ii.)  his  fondness  of  and  success  in  manly 
outdoor  sports  such  as  cricket  football  and 
the  like 

(iii.)  his  qualities  of  manhood  truth  courage 
devotion  to  duty  sympathy  for  the  protection 
of   the    weak    kindliness    unselfishness    and 
fellowship 
and 

(iv.)  his  exhibition  during  school  days  of 
moral  force  of  character  and  of  instincts  to 
lead  and  to  take  an  interest  in  his  school- 
mates for  those  latter  attributes  will  be  likely 
in  after-life  to  guide  him  to  esteem  the  per- 
formance of  public  duty  as  his  highest  aim. 

(s)  I  am  assured,  says  the  Daily  Telegraph  Berlin  corre- 
spondent, that  Kaiser  Wilhelm  himself  was  much  struck  by  the 
donor's  generosity,  and  by  the  motives  which  actuated  him  in 
thinking  of  Germany  in  this  way.  His  Majesty  was  specially 
touched  by  the  attention  shown  to  himself,  and  forthwith 
signified  his  intention  to  comply  with  the  stipulation  thai 
candidates  for  the  scholarships  should  be  nominated  by  himself. 
In  due  time  they  will  be  so  selected  by  the  Kaiser. 

Mr.  W.  G.  Black,  of  Glasgow,  writes  to  the  Spectator : — 
"  Mr.  Rhodes  seems  to  have  been  impressed  by  the  German 
Emperor's  direction  that  English  should  be  taught  in  the 
schools  of  Germany.  It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  note  that 
his  Majesty's  first  action  on  receiving  Heligoland  from  Great 
Britain  was  to  prohibit  the  teaching  of  English  in  the 
island  schools.  That  was  in  1890.  The  prohibition  was 
bitterly  resented  by  the  people,  who  had  since  1810  been 
subjects  of  the  British  Crown,  but  they  were,  of  course,, 
powerless." 


37 


38  THE    WILL   OF  CECIL  J.  RHODES. 

Apportion-  As  mere  suggestions  for  the  guidance  of  those 

marks!  w^°  w^l  have  the  choice  of  students  for  the 
Scholarships  I  record  that  (i.)  my  ideal  qualified 
student  would  combine  these  four  qualifications 
in  the  proportions  of  three-tenths  for  the  first 
two-tenths  for  the  second  three-tenths  for  the 
third  and  two-tenths  for  the  fourth  qualification 
so  that  according  to  my  ideas  if  the  maximum 
number  of  marks  for  any  Scholarship  were  200 
they  would  be  apportioned  as  follows — 60  to 
each  of  the  first  and  third  qualifications  and 
40  to  each  of  the  second  and  fourth  qualifications 
(ii.)  the  marks  for  the  several  qualifications  would 
be  awarded  independently  as  follows  (that  is  to 
say)  the  marks  for  the  first  qualification  by 
examination  for  the  second  and  third  qualifica- 
tions respectively  by  ballot  by  the  fellow-students 
of  the  candidates  and  for  the  fourth  qualification 
by  the  head  master  of  the  candidate's  school  and 
(iii.)  the  results  of  the  awards  (that  is  to  say  the 
marks  obtained  by  each  candidate  for  each 
qualification)  would  be  sent  as  soon  as  possible 
for  consideration  to  the  Trustees  or  to  some 
person  or  persons  appointed  to  receive  the  same 
and  the  person  or  persons  so  appointed  would 
ascertain  by  averaging  the  marks  in  blocks  of  20 
marks  each  of  all  candidates  the  best  ideal  quali- 
fied students.  (/) 

(/)  The  following  account  of  the  discussion  which  took 
place  when  the  proportion  of  marks  was  finally  settled  is  quoted 
from  the  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS,  May,  1902,  p.  480.  The 
discussion  is  reported  by  Mr.  Stead,  who  was  present  with  Mr. 
Rhodes  and  Mr.  Hawksley  : — 

Then,  later  on,  when  Mr.  Hawksley  came  in,  we  had  a 
long  discussion  concerning  the  number  of  marks  to  be  allotted 
under  each  of  the  heads. 

Mr.  Rhodes  said  :  "  I'll  take  a  piece  of  paper.  I  have  got 
my  three  things.  You  know  the  way  I  put  them,"  he  said 


THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD.  39 

No  student  shall  be  qualified  or  disqualified  for  No  Racial 

1        •  011        !_•  fi_  •  °r  Religious 

election  to  a  Scholarship  on  account  ot  his  race  or  Tests, 
religious  opinions. 

Except  in  the  cases  of  the  four  schools  herein-  Method  of 
before    mentioned    the    election    to    Scholarships 
shall  be  by  the  Trustees  after  such  (if  any)  con- 
sultation as  they  shall  think  fit  with  the  Minister 

laughing,  as  he  wrote  down  the  points.  "  First,  there  are  the 
three  qualities.  You  know  I  am  all  against  letting  the  scholar- 
ships merely  to  people  who  swot  over  books,  who  have  spent 
all  their  time  over  Latin  and  Greek.  But  you  must  allow  for 
that  element  which  I  call  'smug,'  and  which  means  scholar- 
ship. That  is  to  stand  for  four-tenths.  Then  there  is 
'  brutality,'  which  stands  for  two-tenths.  Then  there  is  tact 
and  leadership,  again  two-tenths,  and  then  there  is  '  unctuous 
rectitude,'  two-tenths.  That  makes  up  the  whole.  You  see 
how  it  works." 

Then  Mr.  Hawksley  read  the  draft  clause,  the  idea  of 
which  was  suggested  by  Lord  Rosebery,  I  think.  The  scheme 
as  drafted  ran  somewhat  in  this  way  : — 

A  scholarship  tenable  at  Oxford  for  three  years  at  ^300 
a  year  is  to  be  awarded  to  the  scholars  at  some  particular 
school  in  the  Colony  or  State.  The  choice  of  the  candidate 
ultimately  rests  with  the  trustees,  who,  on  making  their  choice, 
must  be  governed  by  the  following  considerations.  Taking 
one  thousand  marks  as  representing  the  total,  four  hundred 
should  be  allotted  for  an  examination  in  scholarship,  conducted 
in  the  ordinary  manner  on  the  ordinary  subjects.  Two 
hundred  shall  be  awarded  for  proficiency  in  manly  sports,  for 
the  purpose  of  securing  physical  excellence.  Two  hundred 
shall  be  awarded  (and  this  is  the  most  interesting  clause  of  all) 
to  those  who,  in  their  intercourse  with  their  fellows,  have  dis- 
played most  of  the  qualities  of  tact  and  skill  which  go  to  the 
management  of  men,  who  have  shown  a  public  spirit  in  the 
affairs  of  their  school  or  their  class,  who  are  foremost  in  the 
defence  of  the  weak  and  the  friendless,  and  who  display  those 
moral  qualities  which  qualify  them  to  be  regarded  as  capable 
leaders  of  men.  The  remaining  two  hundred  would  be  vested 
in  the  headmaster. 

The  marks  in  the  first  category  would  be  awarded  by  com- 
petitive examination  in  the  ordinary  manner ;  in  the  second 
and  third  categories  the  candidate  would  be  selected  by  the 
vote  of  his  fellows  in  the  school  The  headmaster  would  of 


40  THE    WILL    OF  CECIL   J.  RHODES. 

having  the  control  of  education  in  such  Colony, 
Province,  State  or  Territory. 

A  qualified  student  who  has  been  elected  as 
aforesaid  shall  within  six  calendar  months  after 
his  election  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  he  can  be 
admitted  into  residence  or  within  such  extended 
time  as  my  Trustees  shall  allow  commence 


course  vote  alone.     It  is  provided  that  the  vote  of  the  scholars 
should  be  taken  by  ballot ;  that  the  headmaster  should  nomi- 
nate his  candidate  before  the  result  of  the  competitive  examina- 
tion under  (i),  or  of  the  ballot  under  (2)  and  (3)  was  known, 
and   the   ballot   would   take   place   before   the   result  of  the 
competitive  examination  was  known,  so  that  the  trustees  would 
have  before  them  the  names  of  the  first  scholar  judged  by 
competitive    examination,    the    first     selected     for     physical 
excellence  and   for  moral   qualities,  and  the   choice   of  the 
headmaster.      The   candidate   under    each    head    would    be 
selected  without  any  knowledge  as  to  who  would  come  out  on 
top  in  the  other  categories.    To  this  Mr.  Rhodes  had  objected 
on  the  ground  that  it  gave  "unctuous  rectitude"  a  casting 
vote,  and  he  said  "unctuous   rectitude"  would   always   vote 
for   "  smug,"    and    the   physical    and    moral    qualities   would 
go  by  the  board.     To  this  I  added  the  further  objection  that 
"  smug"  and  "brutality"  might  tie,  and  "unctuous  rectitude  " 
might  nominate  a  third  person,  who  was  selected  neither  by 
"  smug "  nor  "  unctuous  rectitude,"  with  the  result  that  there 
would  be  a  tie,  and  the  trustees  would  have  to  choose  without 
any  information  upon  which  to  base  their  judgment.     So  I 
insisted,  illustrating  it  by  an  imaginary  voting  paper,  that  the 
only  possible  way  to  avoid  these  difficulties  was  for  the  trustees 
or  the  returning  officer  to  be  furnished  not  merely  with  the 
single  name  which  heads  each  of  the  four  categories,  but  with 
the  result  of  the  ballot  to  five  or  even  ten  down,  and  that  the 
headmaster  should  nominate  in  order  of  preference  the  same 
number.     The  marks  for  the  first  five  or  ten  in  the  competitive 
examination  would  of  course  also  be  recorded,  and  in  that  case 
the  choice  would  be  automatic.     The  scholar  selected  would 
be  the  one  who  had  the  majority  of  marks,  and  it  might  easily 
happen  that  the  successful  candidate  was  one  who  was  not  top 
in  any  one  of  the  categories.     Mr.  Rhodes  strongly  supported 
this  view,  and  Mr.  Hawksley  concurred,  and  a  clause  is  to  be 
prepared  stating  that  all  the  votes  rendered  at  any  rate  for  the 
first  five  or  ten  should  be  notified  to  the  trustees,  and  also  the 


Photograph  by} 


Mr.  B.  F.  Hawksley. 


[E.  H.  Mills. 


D  2 


THE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  OXFORD.  43 

residence  as  an  undergraduate  at  some  college  in 
the  University  of  Oxford. 

The  scholarships  shall  be  payable  to  him  from 
the  time  when  he  shall  commence  such  residence. 

I  desire  that  the  Scholars  holding  the  scholar-  Scholars  to 
ships  shall  be  distributed  amongst  the  Colleges  of  be  djstri- 
the  University  of  Oxford  and  not  resort  in  undue  colleges™ 
numbers  to  one  or  more  Colleges  only. 

order  of  precedence  for  five  or  ten  to  the  headmaster.  Mr. 
Rhodes  then  said  he  did  not  see  why  the  trustees  need  have 
any  responsibility  in  the  matter,  except  in  case  of  dispute,  when 
their  decision  should  be  final.  This  I  strongly  supported, 
saying  that  provided  the  headmaster  had  to  prepare  his  list 
before  the  result  in  the  balloting  or  competition  was  known, 
he  might  be  constituted  returning  officer,  or,  if  need  be,  one  of 
the  head  boys  might  be  empowered  to  act  with  him,  and  then 
the  award  of  the  scholarship  would  be  a  simple  sum  in  arith- 
metic. There  would  be  no  delay,  and  nothing  would  be  done 
to  weaken  the  interest.  As  soon  as  the  papers  were  all  in  the 
marks  could  be  counted  up,  and  the  scholarship  proclaimed. 

First  I  raised  the  question  as  to  whether  the  masters  should 
be  allowed  to  vote.  Mr.  Rhodes  said  it  did  not  matter. 
There  would  only  be  fourteen  in  a  school  of  six  hundred  boys, 
and  their  votes  would  not  count.  I  said  that  they  would  have 
a  weight  far  exceeding  their  numerical  strength,  for  if  they  were 
excluded  from  any  voice  they  would  not  take  the  same  interest 
that  they  would  if  they  had  a  vote,  while  their  judgment  would 
be  a  rallying  point  for  the  judgment  of  the  scholars.  I 
protested  against  making  the  masters  Outlanders,  depriving 
them  of  votes,  and  treating  them  like  political  helots,  at  which 
Rhodes  laughed.  But  he  was  worse  than  Kruger,  and  would 
not  give  them  the  franchise  on  any  terms. 

Then  Mr.  Hawksley  said  he  was  chiefly  interested  in  the 
third  category — that  is,  moral  qualities  of  leadership.  I  said 
yes,  it  was  the  best  and  the  most  distinctive  character  of  Mr. 
Rhodes's  school ;  that  I  was  an  outside  barbarian,  never 
having  been  to  a  university  or  a  public  school,  and  therefore  I 
spoke  with  all  deference  ;  but  speaking  as  an  outside  barbarian, 
and  knowing  Mr.  Rhodes's  strong  feeling  against  giving  too 
much  preponderance  to  mere  literary  ability,  I  thought  it 
would  be  much  better  to  alter  the  proportion  of  marks  to  be 
awarded  for  "  smug "  and  moral  qualities  respectively,  that  is 
to  say,  I  would  reduce  the  "  smug  "  to  200  votes,  and  put  4op 


44 


THE    WILL   OP    CECIL  J.  RHODES. 


Discipline. 


The  Annual 
Dinner. 


Notwithstanding  anything  hereinbefore  con- 
tained my  Trustees  may  in  their  uncontrolled 
discretion  suspend  for  such  time  as  they  shall 
think  fit  or  remove  any  Scholar  from  his 
Scholarship. 

In  order  that  the  Scholars  past  and  present 
may  have  opportunities  of  meeting  and  discussing 
their  experiences  and  prospects  I  desire  that  my 
Trustees  shall  annually  give  a  dinner  to  the  past 
and  present  Scholars  able  and  willing  to  attend  at 


on  to  moral  qualities.  Against  this  both  Mr.  Rhodes  and 
Mr.  Hawksley  protested,  Mr.  Rhodes  objecting  that  in  that 
case  the  vote  of  the  scholars  would  be  the  deciding  factor,  and 
the  "  smug  "  and  "  unctuous  rectitude  "  would  be  outvoted. 
If  brutality  and  moral  qualities  united  their  votes  they  would 
poll  600,  as  against  400. 

It  was  further  objected,  both  Mr.  Rhodes  and  Mr.  Hawks- 
ley  drawing  upon  their  own  reminiscences  of  school-days,  that 
hero-worship  prevailed  to  such  an  extent  among  schoolboys 
that  a  popular  idol,  the  captain  of  an  eleven,  or  the  first  in  his 
boat,  might  be  voted  in  although  he  had  no  moral  qualities  at 
all.  Mr.  Hawksley  especially  insisted  upon  the  importance  of 
having  a  good  share  of  culture  in  knowledge  of  Greek  and 
Roman  and  English  history.  Then  I  proposed  as  a  com- 
promise that  we  should  equalise  "  smug  "  and  moral  qualities. 
Mr.  Rhodes  accepted  this,  Mr.  Hawksley  rather  reproaching 
him  for  being  always  ready  to  make  a  deal.  But  Mr.  Rhodes 
pointed  out  that  he  had  resisted  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
masters,  who  were  to  be  helots,  and  he  had  also  refused  to 
reduce  "  smug "  to  200,  and  thought  300  was  a  fair  com- 
promise. So  accordingly  it  was  fixed  that  it  had  to  be  300 — 
300  for  "  smug  "  and  300  for  moral  qualities,  while  "  unctuous 
rectitude  "  and  "  brutality  "  are  left  with  200  each. 

We  all  agreed  that  this  should  be  done,  half  the  marks  are 
at  the  disposal  of  the  voting  of  the  scholars,  the  other  half  for 
competition  and  the  headmaster.  It  also  emphasises  the 
importance  of  qualities  entirely  ignored  in  the  ordinary  com- 
petitive examinations,  which  was  Mr.  Rhodes's  great  idea. 
Mr  Rhodes  was  evidently  pleased  with  the  change,  for  just  as 
we  were  leaving  the  hotel  he  called  Mr.  Hawksley  back 
and  said,  "  Remember,  three-tenths,"  so  three-tenths  it  is 
to  be. 


THE  DALHAM  HALL  ESTATE.  45 

which  I  hope  my  Trustees  or  some  of  them  will 
be  able  to  be  present  and  to  which  they  will  I  hope 
from  time  to  time  invite  as  guests  persons  who 
have  shown  sympathy  with  the  views  expressed 
by  me  in  this  my  Will. 

(6.)   The  Dalham  Hall  Estate. 

The  Dalham  Hall  Estate  (21)  is  by  Codicil 
dated  January  i8th  1902  strictly  settled  on 
Colonel  Francis  Rhodes  and  his  heirs  male  with 
remainder  to  Captain  Ernest  Frederick  Rhodes 
and  his  heirs  male. 

The  Codicil  contains  the  following  clause  :— 
Whereas  I  feel  that  it  is  the  essence  of  a  proper  "The 
life  that  every  man  should  during"  some  substantial  essence  °f  a 

.     T     ,  v  T  ,    r    •  •  i    proper  life." 

period  thereof  have  some  definite  occupation  and 
I  object  to  an  expectant  heir  developing  into  what 
I  call  a  "  loafer." 

And  whereas  the  rental  of  the  Dalham   Hall  On  encum- 
Estate  is  not  more  than  sufficient  for  the  mainten-  k.ered 

r    ,  ,  ...  Estates. 

ance  of  the  estate  and  my  experience  is  that  one 
of  the  things  making  for  the  strength  of  England 
is  the  ownership  of  country  estates  which  could 
maintain  the  dignity  and  comfort  of  the  head  of 
the  family  but  that  this  position  has  been  abso- 
lutely ruined  by  the  practice  of  creating  charges 
upon  the  estates  either  for  younger  children  or 
for  the  payment  of  debts  whereby  the  estates 
become  insufficient  to  maintain  the  head  of  the 
family  in  dignity  and  comfort. 

And  whereas   I    humbly  believe   that  one   of  Country 
the  secrets  of  England's  strength  has  been  the  streng[nSof & 
existence  of  a  class  termed  "  the  country  land-  England. 

(u)  Dalham  Hall  Estate  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Rhodes  the 
year  before  his  death.  It  is  situate  in  Suffolk,  not  far  from 
Newmarket,  and  is  3,475  acres  in  extent. 


46 


THE    WILL    OF  CECIL  J.  RHODES. 


Conditions 
of  tenure. 


No  encum- 
brance. 


lords  "  who  devote  their  efforts  to  the  maintenance 
of  those  on  their  own  property,  (v)  And  whereas 
this  is  my  own  experience.  Now  therefore  I  direct 
that  if  any  person  who  under  the  limitations 
hereinbefore  contained  shall  become  entitled  as 
tenant  for  life  or  as  tenant  in  tail  male  by  purchase 
to  the  possession  or  to  the  receipt  of  the  rents 
and  profits  of  the  Dalham  Hall  Estate  shall 
attempt  to  assign  charge  or  incumber  his  interest 
in  the  Dalham  Hall  Estate  or  any  part  thereof 
or  shall  do  or  permit  any  act  or  thing  or  any 
event  shall  happen  by  or  in  consequence  of  which 
he  would  cease  to  be  entitled  to  such  interest  if 


(v)  In  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  May,  1902,  Mr.  Iwan- 
Miiller  gives  the  following  account  of  the  reasons  which 
Mr.  Rhodes  gave  him  for  preferring  country  landlords  to 
manufacturers  : — "  He  told  me  how  during  a  recent  visit  to 
England  he  had  stayed  with  an  English  country  gentleman  of 
very  large  estates. 

"  '  I  went  about  with  him,'  he  said  in  effect,  although  I  do 
not  profess  to  be  able  to  recall  the  exact  wording  of  his 
sentences,  'and  I  discovered  that  he  knew  the  history  and 
personal  circumstances  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  upon 
his  property.  He  was  as  well  instructed  in  their  pedigrees  as 
themselves,  and  could  tell  how  long  every  tenant  or  even 
labourer  had  been  connected  with  the  estate,  and  what  had 
happened  to  any  of  them  in  the  course  of  their  lives.  From 
there  T  went  on  to  a  successful  manufacturer,  a  man  of  high 
standing  and  benevolent  disposition.  He  took  me  over  his 
works,  and  explained  the  machinery  and  the  different  improve- 
ments that  had  been  made,  with  perfect  familiarity  with  his 
subject,  but,  except  as  to  the  heads  of  departments,  foremen 
and  the  like,  he  absolutely  knew  nothing  whatever  about  the 
lives  and  conditions  of  his  "  hands."  Now,'  he  added,  '  my 
manufacturing  friend  was  a  more  progressive  man,  and 
probably  a  more  capable  man  than  my  landlord  friend.  Yet 
the  very  necessities  of  the  latter's  position  compelled  him  to 
discharge  duties  of  the  existence  of  which  the  other  had  no 
idea.  The  manufacturer  built  schools  and  endowed  libraries, 
and  received  reports  as  to  their  management,  but  he  never 
knew,  or  cared  to  know,  what  effect  his  philanthropy  had  upon 
the  individual  beneficiaries.'  " 


THE   DALHAM  HALL   ESTATE.  47 

the  same  were  given  to  him  absolutely  or  if  any 
such  person  as  aforesaid  (excepting  in  this  case 
my  said  brothers  Francis  Rhodes  and  Ernest 
Frederick  Rhodes)  (i)  shall  not  when  he  shall 
become  so  entitled  as  aforesaid  have  been  for  at 
least  ten  consecutive  years  engaged  in  some  Ten  years' 
profession  or  business  or  (ii.)  if  not  then  engaged  work- 
in  some  profession  or  business  and  (such  profes- 
sion or  business  not  being  that  of  the  Army)  not 
then  also  a  member  of  some  militia  or  volunteer  Serve  in 
corps  shall  not  within  one  year  after  becoming  so  ^'l1 
entitled  as  aforesaid  or  (being  an  infant)  within 
one  year  after  attaining  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  whichever  shall  last  happen  unless  in  any 
case  prevented  by  death  become  engaged  in 
some  profession  or  business  and  (such  profession 
or  business  not  being  that  of  the  Army)  also 
become  a  member  of  some  militia  or  volunteer 
corps  or  (iii.)  shall  discontinue  to  be  engaged  in 
any  profession  or  business  before  he  shall  have 
been  engaged  for  ten  consecutive  years  in  some 
profession  or  business  then  and  in  every  such  case 
and  forthwith  if  such  person  shall  be  tenant  for 
life  then  his  estate  for  life  shall  absolutely  deter- 
mine and  if  tenant  in  tail  male  then  his  estate  in 
tail  male  shall  absolutely  determine  and  the  Forfeiture  of 
Dalham  Hall  Estate  shall  but  subject  to  estates  if  title- 
any  prior  to  the  estate  of  such  person  immediately 
go  to  the  person  next  in  remainder  under  the 
limitations  hereinbefore  contained  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  in  the  case  of  a  person  whose  estate 
for  life  is  so  made  to  determine  that  person  were 
dead  or  in  the  case  of  a  person  whose  estate  in  tail 
male  is  so  made  to  determine  were  dead  and 
there  were  a  general  failure  of  issue  of  that  person 
inheritable  to  the  estate  which  is  so  made  to 
determine. 


48 


THE  DALHAM  HALL  ESTATE.  49 

Provided  that  the  determination  of  an  estate 
for  life  shall  not  prejudice  or  effect  any  contin- 
gent remainders  expectant  thereon  and  that 
after  such  determination  the  Dalham  Hall 
Estate  shall  but  subject  to  estates  if  any  prior 
as  aforesaid  remain  to  the  use  of  the  Trustees 
appointed  by  my  said  Will  and  the  Codicil 
thereto  dated  the  iith  day  of  October  1901 
during  the  residue  of  the  life  of  the  person 
whose  estate  for  life  so  determines  upon  trust 
during  the  residue  of  the  life  of  that  person  to 
pay  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  Dalham  Hall 
Estate  to  or  present  the  same  to  be  received 
by  the  person  or  persons  for  the  time  being 
entitled  under  the  limitations  hereinbefore  con- 
tained to  the  first  vested  estate  in  remainder 
expectant  on  the  death  of  that  person. 

After  various  private  dispositions  Mr.  Rhodes 
in  his  original  will  left  the  residue  of  his  real  and 
personal  estate  to  the  Earl  of  Rosebery,  Earl 
Grey,  Alfred  Beit,  William  Thomas  Stead,  Lewis 
Lloyd  Michell  and  Bourchier  Francis  Hawksley 
absolutely  as  joint  tenants. 

The  same  persons  were  also  appointed  execu- 
tors and  trustees. 

In  a  Codicil  dated  January,  1901,  Mr.  Rhodes 
directed  that  the  name  of  W.  T.  Stead  should  be 
removed  from  the  list  of  his  executors. 

In  a  second  Codicil  dated  October,  1901, 
Mr.  Rhodes  added  the  name  of  Lord  Milner  to 
the  list  of  joint  tenants,  executors  and  trustees. 

In  a  third  Codicil,  dated  March,  1902, 
Mr.  Rhodes  appointed  Dr.  Jameson  as  one  of 
his  trustees,  with  all  the  rights  of  other  trustees. 


" 


The  Right  Hon.  Cecil  J.  Rhodes. 

(From  a  sketch  by  the  Marchioness  of  Granby.) 


PART  II. 


THE   POLITICAL   AND    RELIGIOUS   IDEAS   OF 
MR.   RHODES. 

WHEN  Mr.  Rhodes  died,  the  most  conspicuous  figure  left  in 
the  English-speaking  race  since  the  death  of  Queen  Victoria 
disappeared.  Whether  loved  or  feared,  he  towered  aloft  above 
all  his  contemporaries.  There  are  many  who  hold  that  he 
would  be  entitled  to  a  black  statue  in  the  Halls  of  Eblis.  But 
even  those  who  distrusted  and  disliked  him  most,  pay  reluctant 
homage  to  the  portentous  energy  of  a  character  which  has 
affected  the  world  so  deeply  for  weal  or  for  woe.  Outside 
England  none  of  our  politicians,  statesmen,  or  administrators 
impressed  the  imagination  of  the  world  half  as  deeply  as  Cecil 
Rhodes.  For  good  or  for  evil  he  ranked  among  the  dozen 
foremost  men  of  his  day.  He  was  one  of  the  few  men  neither 
royal  nor  noble  by  birth  who  rose  by  sheer  force  of  character 
and  will  to  real,  although  not  to  titular,  Imperial  rank.  After 
the  Pope,  the  Kaiser,  the  Tsar,  there  were  few  contemporary 
statesmen  who  commanded  as  much  attention,  who  roused  as 
much  interest,  as  the  man  who  has  passed  from  our  midst 
while  still  in  his  prime.  The  few  who  knew  him  loved  him. 
The  majority,  to  whom  he  was  unknown,  paid  him  their 
homage,  some  of  their  admiration,  and  others  of  their  hate.  And 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  dread  he  inspired  among  those  who 
disliked  him  was  more  widespread  than  the  affection  he  com- 
manded from  those  who  came  within  the  magic  of  his  presence. 
He  is  gone,  leaving  a  gap  which  no  one  at  present  can  ever 
aspire  to  fill.  The  world  has  echoed  words  and  deeds  of  his 
which  will  long  reverberate  in  the  dim  corridors  of  time. 

To  those  who,  like  myself,  have  to  bear  the  poignant  grief 
caused  by  the  loss  of  a  dearly  loved  friend,  whose  confidence 
and  affection  had  stood  the  test  even  of  the  violent  antagonism 
roused  by  extreme  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the 


52  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

South  African  War,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  Cecil  Rhodes 
at  this  moment  with  judicial  impartiality.  I  knew  him  too 
intimately  and  loved  him  too  well  to  care  to  balance  his  faults 
against  his  virtues  or  to  lay  a  critical  finger  upon  the  flaws  in 
the  diamond.  For  with  all  his  faults  the  man  was  great, 
almost  immeasurably  great,  when  contrasted  with  the  pigmies 
who  pecked  and  twittered  in  his  shade.  To  those  who  are 
inclined  to  dwell  more  upon  the  wide-wasting  ruin  in  which  his 
fatal  blunder  involved  the  country  that  he  loved,  it  may  be 
sufficient  to  remark  that  even  the  catastrophe  which  was 
wrought  by  his  mistake  may  contribute  more  to  the  permanent 
welfare  of  the  Empire  than  all  the  achievements  of  his  earlier 
life. 

Mr.  Rhodes's  last  Will  and  Testament  reveals  him  to  the 
world  as  the  first  distinguished  British  statesman  whose 
Imperialism  was  that  of  Race  and  not  that  of  Empire.  The 
one  specific  object*  defined  in  the  Will  as  that  to  which  his 
wealth  is  to  be  applied  proclaims  with  the  simple  eloquence  of 
a  deed  that  Mr.  Rhodes  was  colour-blind  between  the  British 
Empire  and  the  American  Republic.  His  fatherland,  like  that 
of  the  poet  Arndt,  is  coterminous  with  the  use  of  the  tongue  of 
his  native  land.  In  his  Will  he  aimed  at  making  Oxford 
University  the  educational  centre  of  the  English-speaking  race. 
He  did  this  of  set  purpose,  and  in  providing  the  funds  neces- 
sary for  the  achievement  of  this  great  idea  he  specifically 
prescribed  that  every  American  State  and  Territory  shall  share 
with  the  British  Colonies  in  his  patriotic  benefaction. 

Once  every  year  "  Founder's  Day "  will  be  celebrated  at 
Oxford ;  and  not  at  Oxford  only,  but  wherever  on  the  broad 
world's  surface  half-a-dozen  old  "  Rhodes  scholars "  come 
together  they  will  celebrate  the  great  ideal  of  Cecil  Rhodes — 
the  first  of  modern  statesmen  to  grasp  the  sublime  conception 
of  the  essential  unity  of  the  race.  Thirty  years  hereafter  there 
will  be  between  two  and  three  thousand  men  in  the  prime  of 
life  scattered  all  over  the  world,  each  one  of  whom  will  have 
had  impressed  upon  his  mind  in  the  most  susceptible  period  of 
his  life  the  dream  of  the  Founder. 

It  is,  therefore,  well  to  put  on  record  in  accessible  form  all 
available  evidence  as  to  the  nature  of  his  dream. 

What  manner  of  man  was  this  Cecil  Rhodes  who  has  made 


53 


Photograph  by\ 


The  Earl  of  Rosebery. 


[Jerrard,  Regent  Street. 


54 


POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 


such  careful  provision  for  perpetuating  the  memory  of  the 
dreams  which  he  dreamed,  in  order  that  generations  yet 
unborn  may  realise  the  ideals  which  fired  his  imagination  when 
a  youth  at  Oxford,  and  which  he  followed  like  the  fiery  cloudy 
pillar  through  all  his  earthly  pilgrimage  ? 

To  answer  this  question  we  have,  first  of  all,  his  own 
writings ;  secondly,  his  public  speeches  ;  and,  lastly,  we  have 
confidential  communings  with  the  friends  whom  he  loved  and 
trusted. 


Mr.  Rhodes  at  home  studying  the  Map  of  Africa. 


55 


CHAPTER   I.— HIS  WRITINGS. 

I  WILL  deal  with  them  each  in  their  order,  taking  his 
writings  first — writings  which  were  made  known  to  the  world 
for  the  first  time  after  his  death.  Of  his  last  Will  and 
Testament,  executed  in  1899,  printed  in  the  first  part  of  this 
volume,  I  need  not  speak.  I  confine  myself  in  this  part  to  his 
other  writings. 

Cecil  Rhodes,  in  the  current  phrase  of  the  hour,  was  an 
empire  maker.  He  was  much  more  than  that.  Empire 
makers  are  almost  as  common  as  empire  breakers,  and,  indeed, 
as  in  his  case,  the  two  functions  are  often  combined.  But 
Cecil  Rhodes  stands  on  a  pedestal  of  his  own.  He  was  a 
man  apart.  It  was  his  distinction  to  be  the  first  of  the  new 
Dynasty  of  Money  Kings  which  has  been  evolved  in  these 
later  days  as  the  real  rulers  of  the  modern  world.  There  have 
been  many  greater  millionaires  than  he.  His  friend  and  ally, 
Mr.  Beit,  could  probably  put  down  a  bank-note  for  every 
sovereign  Mr.  Rhodes  possessed,  and  still  be  a  multi- 
millionaire. As  a  rich  man  Mr.  Rhodes  was  not  in  the 
running  with  Mr.  Carnegie,  Mr.  Rockefeller,  or  Mr.  Astor. 
But  although  there  have  been  many  wealthier  men,  none  of 
them,  before  Mr.  Rhodes,  recognised  the  opportunities  of  ruling 
the  world  which  wealth  affords  its  possessor.  The  great 
financiers  of  Europe  have  no  doubt  often  used  their  powers  to 
control  questions  of  peace  or  war  and  to  influence  politics,  but 
they  always  acted  from  a  strictly  financial  motive.  Their  aims 
were  primarily  the  shifting  of  the  values  of  stocks.  To  effect 
that  end  they  have  often  taken  a  leading  hand  in  political 
deals.  But  Mr.  Rhodes  inverted  the  operation.  With  him 
political  considerations  were  always  paramount.  If  he  used 
the  market  he  did  it  in  order  to  secure  the  means  of  achieving 
political  ends.  Hence  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  regard  him  as 
the  first — he  will  not  be  the  last — of  the  Millionaire  Monarchs 
of  the  Modern  World. 

He  was  the  founder  of  the  latest  of  the  dynasties  which 
seems  destined  to  wield  the  sceptre  of  sovereign  power  over 
the  masses  of  mankind.  He  has  fallen  in  mid-career.  His 


56  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

plans  are  but  rudely  sketched  in  outline,  and  much  of  the 
work  which  he  had  begun  is  threatened  with  destruction  by 
his  one  fatal  mistake.  But  he  lived  long  enough  to  enable 
those  who  were  nearest  to  him  to  realise  his  idea  and  to  recog- 
nise the  significance  of  his  advent  upon  the  stage  in  the  present 
state  of  the  evolution  of  human  society. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  more  than  the  founder  of  a  dynasty.  He 
aspired  to  be  the  creator  of  one  of  those  vast  semi-religious, 
quasi-political  associations  which,  like  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
have  played  so  large  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  world.  To 
be  more  strictly  accurate,  he  wished  to  found  an  Order  as  the 
instrument  of  the  will  of  the  Dynasty,  and  while  he  lived  he 
dreamed  of  being  both  its  Caesar  and  its  Loyola.  It  was  this 
far-reaching,  world-wide  aspiration  of  the  man  which  rendered, 
to  those  who  knew  him,  so  absurdly  inane  the  speculations  of 
his  critics  as  to  his  real  motives.  Their  calculations  as  to  his 
ultimate  object  are  helpful  only  because  they  afford  us  some 
measure  of  the  range  of  their  horizon.  When  they  told  us 
that  Mr.  Rhodes  was  aiming  at  amassing  a  huge  fortune,  of 
becoming  Prime  Minister  of  the  Cape,  or  even  of  being  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  South  Africa,  of  obtaining  a 
peerage  and  of  becoming  a  Cabinet  Minister,  we  could  not 
repress  a  smile.  They  might  as  well  have  said  he  was  coveting 
a  new  pair  of  pantaloons  or  a  gilded  epaulette.  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  one  of  the  rare  minds  whose  aspirations  are  as  wide 
as  the  world.  Such  aspirations  are  usually  to  be  discovered 
among  the  founders  of  religions  rather  than  among  the  founders 
of  dynasties.  It  is  this  which  constituted  the  unique,  and  to 
many  the  utterly  incomprehensible,  combination  of  almost 
incompatible  elements  in  Mr.  Rhodes's  character.  So  utterly 
incomprehensible  was  the  higher  mystic  side  of  Mr.  Rhodes's 
character  to  those  among  whom  it  was  his  fate  to  live  and 
work,  that  after  a  few  vain  efforts  to  explain  his  real  drift  he 
gave  up  the  task  in  despair.  It  would  have  been  easier  to 
interpret  colour  to  a  man  born  blind,  or  melody  to  one  stone- 
deaf  from  his  birth,  than  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  understanding 
of  the  "  bulls  "  and  "  bears  "  of  the  Stock  Exchange  to  the  far- 
reaching  plans  and  lofty  ambitions  which  lay  behind  the  issue 
of  Chartereds.  So  the  real  Rhodes  dwelt  apart  in  the  sanctuary 
of  his  imagination,  into  which  the  profane  were  never  admitted. 


57 


Lord  Milner,  G.C.B.,  G.C.M.G. 

(From  Mr.  P.  Tennyson- Cole's  portrait  in  the  Royal  Academy.} 

£    2 


58  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

But  it  was  in  that  sphere  that  he  really  lived,  breathing  that 
mystic  and  exalted  atmosphere  which  alone  sustained  his 
spiritual  life. 

When  Mr.  Rhodes  had  not  yet  completed  his  course  at 
Oxford  he  drew  up  what  he  called  "  a  draft  of  some  of  my 
ideas."  It  was  when  he  was  in  Kimberley.  He  wrote  it,  he 
said,  in  his  letter  to  me  of  August,  1891,  when  he  was  about 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  When  he  promised  to  send  this  to 
me  to  read,  he  said,  "You  will  see  that  I  have  not  altered 
much  as  to  my  feelings."  In  reality  he  must  have  written  it 
at  the  beginning  of  1877,  otherwise  he  could  not  have  referred 
to  the  Russo-Turkish  War,  which  began  in  that  year.  On 
inquiry  among  those  who  were  associated  with  him  in  his 
college  days,  I  find  that,  although  he  talked  much  about 
almost  every  subject  under  heaven,  he  was  very  reticent  as  to 
the  political  ideas  which  were  fermenting  in  his  brain  in  the 
long  days  and  nights  that  he  spent  on  the  veldt,  away  from 
intellectual  society,  communing  with  his  own  soul,  and  medi- 
tating upon  the  world-movements  which  were  taking  place 
around  him.  This  document  may  be  regarded  as  the  first 
draft  of  the  Rhodesian  idea.  It  begins  in  characteristic 
fashion  thus,  with  the  exception  of  some  passages  omitted  or 
summarised : — 

"It  often  strikes  a  man  to  inquire  what  is  the 
chief  good  in  life  ;  to  one  the  thought  comes  that 
it  is  a  happy  marriage,  to  another  great  wealth, 
and  as  each  seizes  on  the  idea,  for  that  he  more 
or  less  works  for  the  rest  of  his  existence.  To 
myself,  thinking  over  the  same  question,  the  wish 
came  to  me  to  render  myself  useful  to  my  country. 
I  then  asked  the  question,  How  could  I  ?"  He 
then  discusses  the  question,  and  lays  down  the 
following  dicta.  "  I  contend  that  we  are  the  first 
race  in  the  world,  and  that  the  more  of  the  world 
we  inhabit  the  better  it  is  for  the  human  race.  I 
contend  that  every  acre  added  to  our  territory 
means  the  birth  of  more  of  the  English  race  who 
otherwise  would  not  be  brought  into  existence. 


HIS    WRITINGS.  59 

Added  to  this,  the  absorption  of  the  greater 
portion  of  the  world  under  our  rule  simply  means 
the  end  of  all  wars."  He  then  asks  himself  what 
are  the  objects  for  which  he  should  work,  and 
answers  his  question  as  follows  :  "  The  furtherance 
of  the  British  Empire,  for  the  bringing  of  the 
whole  uncivilised  world  under  British  rule,  for 
the  recovery  of  the  United  States,  for  the  making 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race  but  one  Empire.  What  a 
dream  !  but  yet  it  is  probable.  It  is  possible." 

"  I  once  heard  it  argued — so  low  have  we 
fallen — in  my  own  college,  I  am  sorry  to  own  it, 
by  Englishmen,  that  it  was  a  good  thing  for  us 
that  we  have  lost  the  United  States.  There  are 
some  subjects  on  which  there  can  be  no  argument, 
and  to  an  Englishman  this  is  one  of  them.  But 
even  from  an  American's  point  of  view  just 

picture  what  they  have  lost All  this  we 

have  lost  and  that  country  has  lost  owing  to 
whom  ?  Owing  to  two  or  three  ignorant,  pig- 
headed statesmen  in  the  last  century.  At  their 
door  is  the  blame.  Do  you  ever  feel  mad,  do 
you  ever  feel  murderous  ?  I  think  I  do  with 
these  men." 

The  rest  of  his  paper  is  devoted  to  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  the  best  means  of  attaining  these 
objects. 

After  recalling  how  the  Roman  Church 
utilises  enthusiasm,  he  suggests  the  formation  of 
a  kind  of  secular  Church  for  the  extension  of 
British  Empire  which  should  have  its  members 
in  every  part  of  the  British  Empire  working  with 
one  object  and  one  idea,  who  should  have  its 
members  placed  at  our  universities  and  our 
schools,  and  should  watch  the  English  youth 
passing  through  their  hands.  Mr.  Rhodes  then 
proceeded  to  sketch  the  kind  of  men  upon  whose 


6o 


Photograph,  by] 


Earl  Grey. 


.  H.  Mills. 


HIS    WRITINGS.  6  r 

help  such  a  Church  could  depend,  how  they 
should  be  recruited,  and  how  they  would  work  to 
"  advocate  the  closer  union  of  England  and  her 

tj 

colonies,  to  crush  all  disloyalty  and  every  move- 
ment for  the  severance  of  our  Empire."  He 
concludes :  "  I  think  that  there  are  thousands 
now  existing  who  would  eagerly  grasp  at  the 
opportunity." 

Even  at  this  early  date,  it  will  be  perceived,  the  primary 
idea  which  found  its  final  embodiment  in  the  will  of  1899  had 
been  sufficiently  crystallised  in  his  mind  to  be  committed  to 
paper.  It  was  later  in  the  same  year  of  1877  that  he  drew  up 
his  first  will.  This  document  he  deposited  with  me  at  the 
same  time  that  he  gave  me  his  "  political  will  and  testament." 
It  was  in  a  sealed  envelope,  and  on  the  cover  was  written  a 
direction  that  it  should  not  be  opened  until  after  his  death. 
That  will  remained  in  my  possession,  unopened,  until 
March  27th,  1902,  when  I  opened  it  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Hawksley.  It  was  dated  Kimberley,  September  igth,  1877. 
It  was  written  throughout  in  his  own  handwriting.  It  opened 
with  a  formal  statement  that  he  gave,  devised,  and  bequeathed 
all  his  estates  and  effects  of  every  kind,  wherever  they  might 
be,  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  for  the  time 
being,  and  to  Sidney  Godolphin  Alexander  Shippard  (who  died 
almost  immediately  after  Mr.  Rhodes  ;  Mr.  Shippard  was  then 
Attorney-General  for  the  province  of  Griqualand  West),  giving 
them  full  authority  to  use  the  same  for  the  purposes  of  extend- 
ing British  rule  throughout  the  world,  for  the  perfecting  of  a 
system  of  emigration  from  the  United  Kingdom  to  all  lands 
where  the  means  of  livelihood  are  attainable  by  energy,  labour, 
and  enterprise,  the  consolidation  of  the  Empire,  the  restoration 
of  the  Anglo  Saxon  unity  destroyed  by  the  schism  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  representation  of  the  colonies  in  Par- 
liament, "  and  finally,  the  foundation  of  so  great  a  Power  as  to 
hereafter  render  wars  impossible  and  to  promote  the  best 
interests  of  humanity." 

This  first  will  contains  the  master  thought  of  Rhodes's  life, 
the  thought  to  which  he  clung  with  invincible  tenacity  to  his 


62  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

dying  day.  The  way  in  which  he  expressed  it  in  these  first 
writings  which  we  have  from  his  hand  was  "  the  furtherance  of 
the  British  rule  "  ;  but  in  after  years  his  ideas  were  broadened, 
especially  in  one  direction — viz.,  the  substitution  of  the  ideal 
of  the  unity  of  the  English-speaking  race  for  the  extension  of 
the  British  Empire  throughout  the  world.  To  the  under- 
graduate dreamer  in  the  diamond  diggings  it  was  natural  that 
the  rapidly  growing  power  of  the  United  States  and  the 
ascendency  which  it  was  destined  to  have  as  the  predominant 
partner  in  the  English-speaking  world  was  not  as  clear  as  it 
became  to  him  when  greater  experience  and  a  wider  outlook 
enabled  him  to  take  a  juster  measure  of  the  relative  forces 
with  which  he  had  to  deal. 

This  first  will  was,  however,  speedily  revoked.  Mr. 
Rhodes  seems  to  have  soon  discovered  that  the  Colonial 
Secretary  for  the  time  being  was  of  all  persons  the  last  to  whom 
such  a  trust  should  be  committed.  He  then  executed  his 
second  will,  which  was  a  very  informal  document  indeed.  It 
was  written  on  a  single  sheet  of  notepaper,  and  dated  1882. 
It  left  all  his  property  to  Mr.  N.  E.  Pickering,  a  young  man 
employed  by  the  De  Beers  Company  at  Kimberley.  Mr. 
Rhodes  was  much  attached  to  him,  and  nursed  him  through 
his  last  illness.  How  much  or  how  little  he  confided  to  Mr. 
Pickering  about  his  ultimate  aims  I  do  not  know,  nor  is 
there  any  means  of  ascertaining  the  truth,  for  Mr.  Pickering 
has  long  been  dead,  and  his  secrets  perished  with  him. 
Mr.  Rhodes,  in  making  the  will  in  his  favour,  wrote  him 
a  note,  saying  the  conditions  were  very  curious,  "and  can 
only  be  carried  out  by  a  trustworthy  person,  and  I  consider 
you  one." 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Pickering  Mr.  Rhodes  executed  a 
third  will  in  1888,  in  which,  after  making  provision  for  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  he  left  the  whole  of  the  residue  of  his 
fortune  to  a  financial  friend,  whom  I  will  call  "  X.,"  in  like 
manner  expressing  to  him  informally  his  desires  and  aspira- 
tions. This  will  was  in  existence  when  I  first  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Rhodes. 

All  these  wills  were  framed  under  the  influence  of  the  idea 
which  dominated  Mr.  Rhodes's  imagination.  He  aimed  at 
the  foundation  of  a  Society  composed  of  men  of  strong 


HIS    WRITINGS.  63 

convictions  and  of  great  wealth,  which  would  do  for  the  unity 
of  the  English-speaking  race  what  the  Society  of  Jesus  did  for 
the  Catholic  Church  immediately  after  the  Reformation. 

The  English-speaking  race  stood  to  Mr.  Rhodes  for  all 
that  the  Catholic  Church  stood  to  Ignatius  Loyola.  Mr. 
Rhodes  saw  in  the  English-speaking  race  the  greatest  instru- 
ment yet  evolved  for  the  progress  and  elevation  of  mankind — 
shattered  by  internal  dissensions  and  reft  in  twain  by  the 
declaration  of  American  Independence,  just  as  the  unity  of  the 
Church  was  destroyed  by  the  Protestant  Reformation.  Unlike 
Loyola,  who  saw  that  between  Protestants  and  Catholics  no 
union  was  possible,  and  who  therefore  devoted  all  his  energies 
to  enable  the  Catholics  to  extirpate  their  adversaries,  Mr. 
Rhodes  believed  that  it  was  possible  to  secure  the  reunion  of 
the  race.  Loyola  was  an  out-and-out  Romanist.  He  took 
sides  unhesitatingly  with  the  Pope  against  the  Reformers.  The 
attitude  of  Mr.  Rhodes  was  altogether  different.  He  was' 
devoted  to  the  old  flag,  but  in  his  ideas  he  was  American,  and 
in  his  later  years  he  expressed  to  me  his  unhesitating  readiness 
to  accept  the  reunion  of  the  race  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  if 
it  could  not  be  obtained  in  any  other  way.  Although  he  had 
no  objection  to  the  Monarchy,  he  unhesitatingly  preferred  the 
American  to  the  British  Constitution,  and  the  text-book  which 
he  laid  down  for  the  guidance  of  his  novitiates  was  a  copy  of 
the  American  Constitution. 

Imagine  the  soul  of  an  Erasmus  in  the  skin  of  a  Loyola 
ready  to  purchase  the  unity  of  Christendom  by  imposing  upon 
the  Pope  the  theses  which  Luther  nailed  upon  the  church 
door  at  Wittenberg,  and  you  have  some  idea  of  the  standpoint 
of  Mr.  Rhodes 

He  was  for  securing  union,  if  necessary,  by  means  which  at 
first  sight  were  little  calculated  to  promote  unity.  If  the 
American  Constitution  was  his  political  text-book,  his  one 
favourite  expedient  for  inducing  Americans  to  recognise  the 
need  for  unity  was  the  declaration  of  a  tariff  war  waged  by 
means  of  differential  duties  upon  imports  from  those  English- 
speaking  commonwealths  which  clapped  heavy  duties  on  British 
goods. 

Finding  that  I  sympathised  with  his  ideas  about  English- 
speaking  reunion  and  his  Society — although  I  did  not  see  eye 


64  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

to  eye  with  him  about  the  tariff  war — Mr.  Rhodes  superseded 
the  will,  which  he  had  made  in  1888,  on  a  sheet  of  notepaper, 
which  left  his  fortune  to  "  X.,"  by  a  formal  will,  in  which  the 
whole  of  his  real  and  personal  estate  was  left  to  "  X."  and  to 
"  W.  Stead,  of  the  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS."  This  will,  the 
fourth  in  order,  was  signed  in  March,  1891. 

On  bidding  me  good-bye,  after  having  announced  the 
completion  of  this  arrangement,  Mr.  Rhodes  stated  that  when 
he  got  to  Africa  he  would  write  out  his  ideas,  and  send 
them  to  me.  It  was  in  fulfilment  of  this  promise  that 
he  sent  me  the  letter  dated  August  igth  and  September  3rd,. 
1891.  It  was  written  by  him  at  his  own  suggestion  in 
order  that  I  might  publish  it  in  literary  dress  in  his  name 
as  an  expression  of  his  views.  I  carried  out  his  instruc- 
tions, and  published  the  substance  of  this  letter,  with 
very  slight  modifications  necessary  to  give  it  the  clothing 
that  he  desired,  as  a  manifesto  to  the  electors  at  the  General 
Election  of  1895.  Mr.  Rhodes's  personality,  however,  at  that 
time  had  not  loomed  sufficiently  large  before  the  mind  of  the 
British  public  for  the  expression  of  his  opinions  to  excite  the 
interest  and  attention  of  the  world.  But  when  I  published 
the  original  draft  after  his  death  it  was  received  every- 
where as  throwing  altogether  new  light  upon  Mr.  Rhodes's 
character. 

Mr.  Rhodes's  political  ideas  were  thus  written  out  by 
him  in  one  of  the  very  few  long  letters  which  he  ever  wrote 
to  anyone,  just  before  his  departure  from  Kimberley  to 
Mashonaland  in  the  autumn  of  1891.  The  communication 
takes  the  shape  of  a  resiime  of  a  long  conversation  which  I  had 
had  with  him  just  before  he  left  London  for  the  Cape.  Despite 
a  passage  which  suggests  that  I  should  sub-edit  it  and  dress  up 
his  ideas,  I  think  the  public  will  prefer  to  have  these  rough, 
hurried,  and  sometimes  ungrammatical  notes  exactly  as 
Mr.  Rhodes  scrawled  them  off  rather  than  to  have  them 
supplied  with  "  literary  clothing  "  by  anyone  else : — 

Please  remember  the  key  of  my  idea  discussed 
with  you  is  a  Society,  copied  from  the  Jesuits 
as  to  organisation,  the  practical  solution  a  diffe- 
rential rate  and  a  copy  of  the  United  States 


Pltotograph  by\ 


[£.  H.  Mills. 


Mr.  Alfred   Beit 


66  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

Constitution,  for  that  is  Home  Rule  or  Federation, 
and  an  organisation  to  work  this  out,  working  in 
the  House  of  Commons  for  decentralisation, 
remembering  that  an  Assembly  that  is  responsible 
for  a  fifth  of  the  world  has  no  time  to  discuss  the 
questions  raised  by  Dr.  Tanner  or  the  important 
matter  of  Mr.  O'Brien's  breeches,  and  that  the 
labour  question  is  an  important  matter,  but 
that  deeper  than  the  labour  question  is  the 
question  of  the  market  for  the  products  of 
labour,  and  that,  as  the  local  consumption 
(production)  of  England  can  only  support 
about  six  millions,  the  balance  depends  on  the 
trade  of  the  world. 

That  the  world  with  America  in  the  forefront 
is  devising  tariffs  to  boycott  your  manufactures, 
and  that  this  is  the  supreme  question,  for  I  believe 
that  England  with  fair  play  should  manufacture 
for  the  world,  and,  being  a  Free  Trader,  I  believe 
until  the  world  comes  to  its  senses  you  should 
declare  war — I  mean  a  commercial  war  with  those 
who  are  trying  to  boycott  your  manufactures— 
that  is  my  programme.  You  might  finish  the  war 
by  union  with  America  and  universal  peace,  I 
mean  after  one  hundred  years,  and  a  secret  society 
organised  like  Loyola's,  supported  by  the  accumu- 
lated wealth  of  those  whose  aspiration  is  a  desire 
to  do  something,  and  a  hideous  annoyance  created 
by  the  difficult  question  daily  placed  before  their 
minds  as  to  which  of  their  incompetent  relations 
they  should  leave  their  wealth  to.  You  would 
furnish  them  with  the  solution,  greatly  relieving 
their  minds  and  turning  their  ill-gotten  or  inherited 
gains  to  some  advantage. 

I  am  a  bad  writer,  but  through  my  ill-con- 
nected sentences  you  can  trace  the  lay  of  my  ideas, 
and  you  can  give  my  idea  the  literary  clothing 


Photograph  by] 


Mr.  L.  L.  Michell. 


68  POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

that  is  necessary.  I  write  so  fully  because  I  am 
off  to  Mashonaland,  and  I  can  trust  you  to  respect 
my  confidence.  It  is  a  fearful  thought  to  feel  that 
you  possess  a  patent,  and  to  doubt  whether  your 
life  will  last  you  through  the  circumlocution  of  the 
forms  of  the  Patent  Office.  I  have  that  inner 
conviction  that  if  I  can  live  I  have  thought  out 
something  that  is  worthy  of  being  registered  at 
the  Patent  Office  ;  the  fear  is,  shall  I  have  the 
time  and  the  opportunity  ?  And  I  believe,  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  bred  in  the  soul  of  an  inventor, 
it  is  not  self-glorification  I  desire,  but  the  wish  to 
live  to  register  my  patent  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who,  I  think,  are  the  greatest  people  the  world  has 
•ever  seen,  but  whose  fault  is  that  they  do  not 
know  their  strength,  their  greatness,  and  their 
destiny,  and  who  are  wasting  their  time  on  their 
minor  local  matters,  but  being  asleep  do  not  know 
that  through  the  invention  of  steam  and  electricity, 
and  in  view  of  their  enormous  increase,  they  must 
now  be  trained  to  view  the  world  as  a  whole,  and 
not  only  consider  the  social  questions  of  the  British 
Isles.  Even  a  Labouchere  who  possesses  no 
sentiment  should  be  taught  that  the  labour  ot 
England  is  dependent  on  the  outside  world,  and 
that  as  far  as  I  can  see  the  outside  world,  if  he 
does  not  look  out,  will  boycott  the  results  of 
English  labour.  They  are  calling  the  new  country 
Rhodesia,  that  is  from  the  Transvaal  to  the 
southern  end  of  Tanganyika  ;  the  other  name  is 
Zambesia.  I  find  I  am  human  and  should  like  to 
be  living  after  my  death  ;  still,  perhaps,  if  that 
name  is  coupled  with  the  object  of  England  every- 
where, and  united,  the  name  may  convey  the  dis- 
covery of  an  idea  which  ultimately  led  to  the 
cessation  of  all  wars  and  one  language  throughout 
the  world,  the  patent  being  the  gradual  absorption 


69 


FACSIMILE  PAGES  OF  ONE  OF  MR.   RHODES'S    LETTERS 
TO  W.  T.  STEAD. 


.<?JL<r 


X 


^* 


^/ 

^fn-^c^i 


' 


/z^-^7     y  ~  ^^< 


*       * 


X^    * '  - 


HIS    WRITINGS.  73 

of  wealth  and  human  minds  of  the  higher  order  to 
the  object.* 

What  an  awful  thought  it  is  that  if  we  had  not 
lost  America,  or  if  even  now  we  could  arrange 
with  the  present  members  of  the  United  States 
Assembly  and  our  House  of  Commons,  the  peace 
of  the  world  is  secured  for  all  eternity !  We 
could  hold  your  federal  parliament  five  years  at 
Washington  and  five  at  London.  The  only  thing 
feasible  to  carry  this  idea  out  is  a  secret  one 
(society)  gradually  absorbing  the  wealth  of  the 
world  to  be  devoted  to  such  an  object.  There  is 
Hirsch  with  twenty  millions,  very  soon  to  cross 
the  unknown  border,  and  struggling  in  the  dark 
to  know  what  to  do  with  his  money  ;  and  so  one 
might  go  on  ad  infinitum. 

Fancy  the  charm  to  young  America,  just 
coming  on  and  dissatisfied — for  they  have  filled 

*  Mr.  Sidney  Low,  formerly  editor  of  the  St.  James's  Gazette, 
writing  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  May,  1902,  thus  summarises 
the  cardinal  doctrines  which  formed  the  staple  of  Mr.  Rhodes's 
conversation  with  him  : — "  First,  that  insular  England  was  quite 
insufficient  to  maintain,  or  even  to  protect,  itself  without  the 
assistance  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  beyond  the  seas  of  Europe. 
Secondly,  that  the  first  and  greatest  aim  of  British  statesmanship 
should  be  to  find  new  areas  of  settlement,  and  new  markets  for  the 
products  that  would,  in  due  course,  be  penalised  in  the  territories 
and  dependencies  of  all  our  rivals  by  discriminating  tariffs. 
Thirdly,  that  the  largest  tracts  of  unoccupied  or  undeveloped  lands 
remaining  on  the  globe  were  in  Africa,  and  therefore  that  the 
most  strenuous  efforts  should  be  made  to  keep  open  a  great  part  of 
that  continent  to  British  commerce  and  colonisation.  Fourthly, 
that  as  the  key  to  the  African  position  lay  in  the  various  Anglo- 
Dutch  States  and  provinces,  it  was  imperative  to  convert  the 
whole  region  into  a  united,  self-governing  federation,  exempt  from 
meddlesome  interference  by  the  home  authorities,  but  loyal  to  the 
Empire,  and  welcoming  British  enterprise  and  progress.  Fifthly, 
that  the  world  was  made  for  the  service  of  man,  and  more 
particularly  of  civilised,  white,  European  men,  who  were  most 
capable  of  utilising  the  crude  resources  of  Nature  for  the  promotion 
of  wealth  and  prosperity.  And,  finally,  that  the  British  Constitu- 
tion was  an  absurd  anachronism,  and  that  it  should  be  remodelled 
on  the  lines  of  the  American  Union,  with  federal  self-governing 
Colonies  as  the  constituent  States. 


F  2 


74  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

up  their  own  country  and  do  not  know  what  to 
tackle  next — to  share  in  a  scheme  to  take  the 
government  of  the  whole  world !  Their  present 
president  is  dimly  seeing  it,  but  his  horizon  is 
limited  to  the  New  World  north  and  south,  and 
so  he  would  intrigue  in  Canada,  Argentina,  and 
Brazil,  to  the  exclusion  of  England.  Such  a  brain 
wants  but  little  to  see  the  true  solution  ;  he  is  still 
groping  in  the  dark,  but  is  very  near  the  dis- 
covery. For  the  American  has  been  taught  the 
lesson  of  Home  Rule  and  the  success  of  leaving 
the  management  of  the  local  pump  to  the  parish 
beadle.  He  does  not  burden  his  House  of  Com- 
mons with  the  responsibility  of  cleansing  the 
parish  drains.  The  present  position  in  the  English 
House  is  ridiculous.  You  might  as  well  expect 
Napoleon  to  have  found  time  to  have  personally 
counted  his  dirty  linen  before  he  sent  it  to  the 
wash,  and  re-counted  it  upon  its  return.  It  would 
have  been  better  for  Europe  if  he  had  carried  out 
his  idea  of  Universal  Monarchy ;  he  might  have 
succeeded  if  he  had  hit  on  the  idea  of  granting 
self-government  to  the  component  parts.  Still,  I 
will  own  tradition,  race,  and  diverse  languages 
acted  against  his  dream  ;  all  these  do  not  exist  as 
to  the  present  English-speaking  world,  and  apart 
from  this  union  is  the  sacred  duty  of  taking  the 
responsibility  of  the  still  uncivilised  parts  of  the 
world.  The  trial  of  these  countries  who  have 
been  found  wanting — such  as  Portugal,  Persia, 
even  Spain — and  the  judgment  that  they  must 
depart,  and,  of  course,  the  whole  of  the  South 
American  Republics.  What  a  scope  and  what  a 
horizon  of  work,  at  any  rate,  for  the  next  two 
centuries,  the  best  energies  of  the  best  people  in 
the  world  ;  perfectly  feasible,  but  needing  an 
organisation,  for  it  is  impossible  for  one  human 


75 


Photograph  by\ 


IE.  H.  Mills. 


Dr.  Jameson. 


76  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

atom  to  complete  anything,  much  less  such  an  idea 
as  this  requiring  the  devotion  of  the  best  souls  of 
the  next  200  years.  There  are  three  essentials  : 
— (i)  The  plan  duly  weighed  and  agreed  to.  (2) 
The  first  organisation.  (3)  The  seizure  of  the 
wealth  necessary. 

I  note  with  satisfaction  that  the  committee 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  McKinley  Tariff 
report  that  in  certain  articles  our  trade  has  fallen 
off  50  per  cent,  and  yet  the  fools  do  not  see  that 
if  they  do  not  look  out  they  will  have  England 
shut  out  and  isolated  with  ninety  millions  to  feed 
and  capable  internally  of  supporting  about  six 
millions.  If  they  had  had  statesmen  they  would 
at  the  present  moment  be  commercially  at  war 
with  the  United  States,  and  they  would  have 
boycotted  the  raw  products  of  the  United  States 
until  she  came  to  her  senses.  And  I  say  this 
because  I  am  a  Free  Trader.  But  why  go  on 
writing  ?  Your  people  do  not  know  their  great- 
ness ;  they  possess  a  fifth  of  the  world  and  do  not 
know  that  it  is  slipping  from  them,  and  they  spend 
their  time  on  discussing  Parnell  and  Dr.  Tanner, 
the  character  of  Sir  C.  Dilke,  the  question  of 
compensation  for  beer-houses,  and  omne  /toe  genus. 
Your  supreme  question  at  the  present  moment  is 
the  seizure  of  the  labour  vote  at  the  next  election. 
Read  the  A ustraiian  Bulletin  (New  South  Wales), 
and  see  where  undue  pandering  to  the  labour  vote 
may  lead  you  ;  but  at  any  rate  the  eight-hour 
question  is  not  possible  without  a  union  of  the 
English-speaking  world,  otherwise  you  drive  your 
manufactures  to  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Germany, 
just  as  you  have  placed  a  great  deal  of  cheap 
shipping  trade  in  the  hands  of  Italy  by  your 
stringent  shipping  regulations  which  they  do  not 
possess,  and  so  carry  goods  at  lower  rates. 


HIS    WRITINGS.  77 

Here  this  political  Will  and  Testament  abruptly  breaks  off. 
It  is  rough,  inchoate,  almost  as  uncouth  as  one  of  Cromwell's 
speeches,  but  the  central  idea  glows  luminous  throughout. 
Mr.  Rhodes  has  never  to  my  knowledge  said  a  word,  nor  has 
he  ever  written  a  syllable,  that  justified  the  suggestion  that  he 
surrendered  the  aspirations  which  were  expressed  in  this  letter 
of  1891.  So  far  from  this  being  the  case,  in  the  long  dis- 
cussions which  took  place  between  us  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  he  re-affirmed  as  emphatically  as  at  first  his  unshaken 
conviction  as  to  the  dream— if  you  like  to  call  it  so — or  vision, 
which  had  ever  been  the  guiding  star  of  his  life.  How  pathetic 
to  read  to-day  the  thrice  expressed  foreboding  that  life  would 
not  be  spared  him  to  carry  out  his  great  ideal.  But  it  may  be 
as  Lowell  sang  of  Lamartine  : — 

To  carve  thy  fullest  thought,  what  though 
Time  was  not  granted  ?     Aye  in  history, 

Like  that  Dawn's  face  which  baffled  Angelo, 
Left  shapeless,  grander  for  its  mystery, 

Thy  great  Design  shall  stand,  and  day 

Flood  its  blind  front  from  Orients  far  away. 


Cecil  Rhodes  as  a  boy. 

(By  kind  permission  of  Wm.  Blackicood  and  Sons.) 


79 


CHAPTER   II.— HIS   CONVERSATIONS. 

SINCE  Mr.  Rhodes'_s  death  I  have  had  opportunities  of 
making  a  close  inquiry  among  those  who  have  been  most 
intimately  associated  with  him  from  his  college  days  until  his 
death,  with  this  result.  I  found  that  to  none  of  them  had 
Mr.  Rhodes  spoken  as  fully,  as  intimately,  and  as  frequently 
as  he  talked  to  me  concerning  his  aims  and  the  purposes  to 
which  he  wished  his  wealth  to  be  devoted  after  his  death. 
This  is  not  very  surprising,  because  from  the  year  1891 
till  the  year  1899  I  was  designated  by  Mr.  Rhodes  in 
the  wills  which  preceded  that  of  1899  as  the  person 
who  was  charged  with  the  distribution  of  the  whole  of 
his  fortune.  From  1891-3  I  was  one  of  two,  from  1893 
to  1899  one  of  three,  to  whom  his  money  was  left;  but 
I  was  specifically  appointed  by  him  to  direct  the  application  of 
his  property  for  the  promotion  of  the  ideas  which  we  shared 
in  common. 

I  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Rhodes  in  1889. 
Although  that  was  the  first  occasion  on  which  I  met  him,  or  was 
aware  of  the  ideas  which  he  entertained,  he  had  already  for  some 
years  been  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  of  my  readers — indeed, 
ever  since  I  succeeded  to  the  direction  of  the  Pall Mall  Gazette 
(when  Mr.  Morley  entered  Parliament  in  the  year  1883),  and 
began  the  advocacy  of  what  I  called  the  Imperialism  of  re- 
sponsibility as  opposed  to  Jingoism,  which  has  been  the  note 
of  everything  that  I  have  said  or  written  ever  since.  It  was  in 
the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  that  I  published  an  article  on  Anglo- 
American  reunion  which  brought  me  a  much-prized  letter  from 
Russell  Lowell,  in  which  he  said :  "  It  is  a  beautiful  dream, 
but  it's  none  the  worse  on  that  account.  Almost  all  the  best 
things  that  we  have  in  the  world  to-day  began  by  being 
dreams."  It  was  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  in  those  days  that  I 
conducted  a  continuous  and  passionate  apostolate  in  favour  of 
a  closer  union  with  the  Colonies.  It  is  amusing  to  look  back 
at  the  old  pages,  and  to  find  how  the  preservation  of  the  trade 
route  from  the  Cape  to  the  Zambesi  was  stoutly  contended  for 


8o  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  and  cynically  treated  by  the  Times. 
The  ideal  of  associating  the  Colonies  with  us  in  the  duty  of 
Imperial  Defence  was  another  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
what  we  called  in  those  days  "  the  Gospel  according  to  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette"  It  was  in  the  Pall  Mall  that  we  published 
"  The  Truth  about  the  Navy,"  and  the  Pall  Mall,  more  than 
any  other  paper,  was  closely  associated  with  the  heroic  tragedy 
of  General  Gordon's  mission  to  Khartoum. 

Cecil  Rhodes,  brooding  in  intellectual  solitude  in  the 
midst  of  the  diamond  diggers  of  Kimberley,  welcomed  with 
enthusiasm  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette.  He  found  in  it  the  crude 
ideas  which  he  had  embodied  in  his  first  will  expressed  from 
day  to  day  with  as  great  an  enthusiasm  as  his  own.  and  with 
a  much  closer  application  to  the  great  movements  which  were 
moulding  the  contemporary  history  of  the  world.  It  is 
probable  (although  he  never  mentioned  this)  that  the  close 
personal  friendship  which  existed  between  General  Gordon 
and  himself  constituted  a  still  closer  tie  between  him  and  the 
editor  of  the  journal  whose  interview  had  been  instrumental  in 
sending  Gordon  to  Khartoum,  and  who  through  all  the  dark 
and  dreary  siege  was  the  exponent  of  the  ideas  and  the 
champion  of  the  cause  of  that  last  of  the  Paladins.  Whatever 
contributory  causes  there  may  have  been,  Mr.  Rhodes  always 
asserted  that  his  own  ideas  had  been  profoundly  modified  and 
moulded  by  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

But,  as  I  said,  it  was  not  until  1889  that  I  was  first  intro- 
duced to  him.  As  I  had  been  interested  in  the  expansion 
of  British  power  in  Africa  and  in  the  preservation  of  the 
trade  route  which  rendered  the  northern  expansion  possible,  I 
had  constantly  exerted  myself  in  support  of  the  ideas  of  Mr. 
Mackenzie,  who  was  in  more  or  less  personal  antagonism  to  the 
ideas  of  Mr.  Rhodes.  Mr.  Mackenzie  and  Mr.  Rhodes  both 
wished  to  secure  the  northern  territory.  Mr.  Rhodes  believed 
in  thrusting  the  authority  of  Cape  Colony  northward,  and  Mr. 
Mackenzie  was  equally  emphatic  about  placing  Bechuanaland 
under  the  direct  authority  of  the  Crown.  This  difference  of 
method,  although  it  produced  much  personal  estrangement,  in 
no  way  affected  their  devotion  to  their  common  ideal.  As  I 
was  on  Mr.  Mackenzie's  side,  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  Mr. 
Rhodes ;  and  when  Sir  Charles  Mills  (then  Cape  Agent- 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  Si 

General)  first  proposed  that  I  should  meet  him,  I  was  so  far 
from  realising  what  it  meant  that  I  refused.  Sir  Charles  Mills 
repeated  his  invitation  with  a  persistency  and  an  earnestness 
which  overcame  my  reluctance;  I  abandoned  a  previous 
engagement,  and  accepted  his  invitation  to  lunch,  for  the 
purpose  of  meeting  Mr.  Rhodes. 

Mr.  Rhodes,  said  Sir  Charles  Mills,  wished  to  make  my 
acquaintance  before  he  returned  to  Africa.  I  met  Mr.  Rhodes 
at  the  Cape  Agency,  and  was  introduced  to  him  by  Sir  Charles 
Mills  on  April  4th,  1889.  After  lunch,  Sir  Charles  left  us 
alone,  and  I  had  a  three  hours'  talk  with  Mr.  Rhodes.  To  say 
that  I  was  astonished  by  what  he  said  to  me  is  to  say  little. 
I  had  expected  nothing — was  indeed  rather  bored  at  the  idea 
of  having  to  meet  him — and  vexed  at  having  to  give  up  my 
previous  engagement.  But  no  sooner  had  Sir  Charles  Mills 
left  the  room  than  Mr.  Rhodes  fixed  my  attention  by  pouring 
out  the  long  dammed-up  flood  of  his  ideas.  Immediately  after 
I  left  him  I  wrote  : — 

"  I  have  never  met  a  man  who,  upon  broad  Imperial 
matters,  was  so  entirely  of  my  way  of  thinking." 

On  my  expressing  my  surprise  that  we  should  be  in  such 
agreement,  he  laughed  and  said — 

"  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  because  I  have  taken  my 
ideas  from  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette" 

The  paper  permeated  South  Africa,  he  said,  and  he  had  met 
it  everywhere.  He  then  told  me  what  surprised  me  not  a  little, 
and  what  will  probably  come  to  many  of  those  who  admire  him 
to-day  with  a  certain  shock. 

He  said  that  although  he  had  read  regularly  the  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  in  South  Africa,  it  was  not  until  the  year  1885  that  he 
had  realised  that  the  editor  of  the  paper,  whose  ideas  he  had 
assimilated  so  eagerly,  was  a  person  who  was  capable  of 
defending  his  principles  regardless  of  considerations  of  his 
own  ease  and  safety.  But  when  in  1885  I  published  "  The 
Maiden  Tribute  "  and  went  to  gaol  for  what  I  had  done,  he 
felt,  "  Here  is  the  man  I  want — one  who  has  not  only  the 
right  principles,  but  is  more  anxious  to  promote  them  than  to 
save  his  own  skin."  He  tried  to  see  me,  drove  up  to  Hollo- 
way  Gaol  and  asked  to  be  admitted,  was  refused,  and  drove 
away  in  a  pretty  fume.  Lord  Russell  of  Killowen  had  the 


82  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

same  experience,  with  the  same  result.      No  one  can  see  a 
prisoner  without  an  order  from  the  Home  Office. 

Mr.  Rhodes  did  not  tell  me  what  I  learned  only  since  his 
death,  from  Mr.  Maguire,  that  the  solitary  occasion  on  which 
he  ever  entered  Exeter  Hall  was  when,  together  with 
Mr.  Maguire,  he  attended  an  indignation  meeting,  called  to 
protest  against  my  imprisonment,  which  was  addressed,  among 
others,  by  Mrs.  Josephine  Butler  and  Mrs.  Fawcett. 

He  left  for  Africa  without  seeing  me ;  but  on  his  return  in 
1889  he  said  he  would  not  sail  until  he  had  met  me  and  told 
me  all  his  plans.  Hence  he  had  made  Sir  Charles  Mills 
arrange  this  interview  in  order  to  talk  to  me  about  them  all, 
and  specially  to  discuss  how  he  could  help  me  to  strengthen 
and  extend  my  influence  as  editor. 

Writing  to  my  wife  immediately  afcer  I  had  left  him,  I 
said  : — 

"  Mr.  Rhodes  is  my  man. 

"  I  have  just  had  three  hours'  talk  with  him. 

"  He  is  full  of  a  far  more  gorgeous  idea  in  connection  with 
the  paper  than  even  I  have  had.  I  cannot  tell  you  his  scheme, 
because  it  is  too  secret.  But  it  involves  millions.  .  .  .  He 
expects  to  own,  before  he  dies,  four  or  five  millions,  all  of 
which  he  will  leave  to  carry  out  the  scheme  of  which  the  paper 
is  an  integral  part.  .  .  .  His  ideas  are  federation,  expansion, 
and  consolidation  of  the  Empire. 

"  He  is  ....  about  thirty-five,  full  of  ideas,  and  regarding 
money  only  as  a  means  to  work  his  ideas.  He  believes  more 
in  wealth  and  endowments  than  I  do.  He  is  not  religious  in 
the  ordinary  sense,  but  has  a  deeply  religious  conception  of 
his  duty  to  the  world,  and  thinks  he  can  best  serve  it  by  work- 
ing for  England.  He  took  to  me ;  told  me  things  he  has  told 
to  no  other  man,  save  X.  ...  It  seems  all  like  a  fairy  dream." 

It  is  not  very  surprising  that  it  had  that  appearance.  Never 
before  or  since  had  I  met  a  millionaire  who  calmly  declared 
his  intention  to  devote  all  his  millions  to  carry  out  the  ideas 
which  I  had  devoted  my  life  to  propagate. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  intensely  sympathetic,  and  like  most 
sympathetic  people  he  would  shut  up  like  an  oyster  when  he 
found  that  his  ideas  on  "  deep  things  "  which  were  near  to  his 
heart  moved  listeners  to  cynicism  or  to  sneers. 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  83 

He  was  almost  apologetic  about  his  suggestion  that  his 
wealth  might  be  useful.  "Don't  despise  money,"  he  said. 
"Your  ideas  are  all  right,  but  without  money  you  can  do 
nothing."  "  The  twelve  apostles  did  not  find  it  so,"  I  said; 
and  so  the  talk  went  on.  He  expounded  to  me  his  ideas 
about  underpinning  the  Empire  by  a  Society  which  would  be 
to  the  Empire  what  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  to  the  Papacy, 
and  we  talked  on  and  on,  upon  very  deep  things  indeed. 

Before  we  parted  we  had  struck  up  a  firm  friendship  which 
stood  the  strain  even  of  the  Raid  and  the  War  on  his  part  and 
of  "  Shall  I  Slay  my  Brother  Boer  ?  "  and  "  Hell  Let  Loose  " 
on  mine.  From  that  moment  I  felt  I  understood  Rhodes.  I, 
almost  alone,  had  the  key  to  the  real  Rhodes,  and  I  felt  that 
from  that  day  it  was  my  duty  and  my  privilege  to  endeavour 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  to  interpret  him  to  the  world. 

It  was  in  1889,  at  our  first  interview,  that  he  expounded  to 
me  the  basis  of  his  creed.  I  did  not  publish  it  till  November, 
1899.  Although  it  was  issued  during  his  lifetime,  it  provoked 
from  him  neither  publicly  nor  privately  any  protest,  criticism, 
or  correction. 

I  therefore  think  that  my  readers  will  be  glad  to  be  afforded 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  what  I 'wrote  in  October,  1899,  which 
I. reprint  exactly  as  it  was  published. 

HIS    RELIGION. 

Mr.  Rhodes's  conception  of  his  duties  to  his  fellow-men 
rests  upon  a  foundation  as  distinctly  ethical  and  theistic  as  that 
of  the  old  Puritans.  If  you  could  imagine  an  emperor  of  old 
Rome  crossed  with  one  of  Cromwell's  Ironsides,  and  the  result 
brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Ignatius  Loyola,  you  would  have  an 
amalgam  not  unlike  that  which  men  call  Cecil  Rhodes.  The 
idea  of  the  State,  the  Empire,  and  the  supreme  allegiance 
which  it  has  a  right  to  claim  from  all  its  subjects,  is  as  fully 
developed  in  him  as  in  Augustus  or  in  Trajan.  But  deep 
underlying  all  this  there  is  the  strong,  earnest,  religious  con- 
ception of  the  Puritan.  Mr.  Rhodes  is  not,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  a  religious  man.  He  was  born  in  a  rector}', 
and,  like  many  other  clergymen's  sons,  he  is  no  great  Church- 
man. He  has  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  extent  to  which 
modern  research  has  pulverised  the  authority  of  the  Bible; 


S4  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

and,  strange  though  it  may  appear  to  those  who  only  know  him 
as  the  destroyer  of  Lobengula,  his  moral  sense  revolts  against 
accepting  the  Divine  origin  of  the  Hebrew  writings  which 
exult  over  the  massacre  of  the  Amalekites.  In  the  doctrine 
of  eternal  torment  he  is  an  out-and-out  unbeliever.,  Upon 
many  questions  relating  to  the  other  world  his  one  word  is 
Agnostic — -"  I  do  not  know."  But  on  the  question  of  Hell  he 
is  quite  sure  he  knows,  and  he  knows  that  it  is  not  true. 
Indeed,  it  is  his  one  negative  dogma,  which  he  holds  with 
astonishing  vigour  and  certitude.  It  conflicts  with  his  funda- 
mental conception  of  the  nature  of  things.  Whatever  may  be 
•or  may  not  be,  that  cannot  be. 

HIS    MEDITATIONS. 

It  may  appear  strange  to  those  who  only  realise  Mr.  Rhodes 
as  a  successful  empire-builder,  or  a  modern  Midas,  at  whose 
touch  everything  turns  to  gold,  to  hear  that  the  great  Afri- 
kander is  much  given  to  pondering  seriously  questions  which, 
in  the  rush  and  hurry  of  modern  life,  most  men  seldom  give 
themselves  time  to  ask,  much  less  to  answer.  But  as 
Mohammed  spent  much  time  in  the  solitude  of  his  cave  before 
he  emerged  to  astonish  the  world  with  the  revelation  of  the 
Koran,  so  Cecil  Rhodes  meditated  much  in  the  years  while 
he  was  washing  dirt  for  diamonds  under  the  South  African 
stars.  He  is  still  a  man  much  given  to  thinking  over  things. 
He  usually  keeps  three  or  four  subjects  going  at  one  time, 
and  he  sticks  to  them.  At  present  he  has  on  his  mind  the 
development  of  Rhodesia,  the  laying  of  the  telegraph  line  to 
Tanganyika,  the  Cape  to  Cairo  railway,  and  the  ultimate 
federation  of  South  Africa.  These  four  objects  preoccupy 
him.  He  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  troubled  with  corre- 
spondence. He  receives  letters  and  loses  them  sometimes,  but 
answers  them  never. 

In   the   earlier   days,  before   he  was  known,  he    kept  his 
thoughts  to  himself.     But  he  thought  much  ;  and  the  outcome 
of  his  thinking  is  making  itself  felt  more  and  more  every  dayin 
the  development  of  Africa. 

THE  SEARCH  FOR  THE  SUPREME  IDEAL. 

When  Mr.  Rhodes  was  an  undergraduate  at  Oxford,  he 
was  profoundly  impressed  by  a  saying  of  Aristotle  as  to 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  85 

the  importance  of  having  an  aim  in  life  sufficiently  lofty  to 
justify  your  spending  your  life  in  endeavouring  to  reach  it. 
He  went  back  to  Africa  wondering  what  his  aim  in  life  should 
be,  knowing  only  one  thing  :  that  whatever  it  was,  he  had  not 
found  it.  For  him  that  supreme  ideal  was  still  to  seek.  So 
he  fell  a-thinking.  The  object  to  which  most  of  those  who 
surrounded  him  eagerly  dedicated  their  lives  was  the  pursuit 
of  wealth.  For  that  they  were  ready  to  sacrifice  all.  Was  it 
worth  it  ?  Did  the  end,  even  when  attained,  justify  the 
expenditure  of  one's  life  ?  To  answer  that  question  he  looked 
at  the  men  who  had  succeeded,  who  had  made  their  pile,  who 
had  attained  the  goal  which  he  was  proposing  he  should  make 
his  own.  What  he  saw  was  men  who,  with  hardly  an,  excep- 
tion, did  not  know  what  use  to  make  of  the  wealth  they  had 
spent  their  lives  in  acquiring.  They  had  encumbered  them- 
selves with  money-bags,  and  they  spent  all  their  time  in  taking 
care  of  them.  Other  object  in  life  they  seemed  to  have  none. 
Wealth,  for  which  they  had  given  the  best  years  of  their  life, 
was  only  a  care,  not  a  joy — a  source  of  anxiety,  not  a  sceptre 
of  power.  "  If  that  is  all,  it  is  not  good  enough,"  thought 
Rhodes. 

IN  POLITICS. 

Then  his  thoughts  turned  to  politics.  Why  not  devote  his 
life  to  the  achievement  of  a  political  career  ?  He  might  suc- 
ceed if  he  tried.  Rhodes  seldom  doubts  his  capacity  to 
succeed  when  he  tries.  Again  he  looked  at  the  ultimate.  In 
South  Africa  the  top  of  the  tree  was  represented  by  the  Cape 
Premiership.  What  kind  of  men  are  Cape  Premiers  ?  He  had 
known  some  of  them.  They  were  men  who  had  alternate 
spells  of  office  and  opposition.  Most  of  them  were  medio- 
crities ;  few  of  them  had  power,  even  when  they  held  place. 
They  were  dependent  for  their  political  existence  upon  the 
goodwill  of  followers  whom  they  had  to  wheedle  or  cajole. 
The  position  did  not  seem  enviable ;  so  once  more  Rhodes 
decided  "  it  was  not  good  enough."  The  true  goal  was  still 
to  seek. 

IN    THE    CHURCHES. 

His  mind  turned  to  religion.  Was  there  to  be  found  in 
the  Churches  a  goal  worth  the  devotion  of  a  life  ?  Perhaps — if 


86  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS   IDEAS. 

it  were  true.  But  what  if  it  were  not  ?  He  thought  much  of 
the  marvellous  career  of  Loyola,  the  man  who  underpinned 
the  tottering  foundations  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  re-estab- 
lished them  upon  the  rock  of  St.  Peter,  which  had  been  shaken 
by  the  spiritual  dynamite  of  the  Reformation.  There  was  a 
work  worthy  the  best  man's  life.  But  nowadays  who  could 
believe  in  the  Roman,  or  even  in  the  Christian,  creed  ?  * 
Every  day  some  explorer  dug  up  in  Palestine  some  old  inscrip- 
tion which  made  havoc  with  a  Bible  text — a  conclusion  which 
the  reports  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  certainly  do  not 
bear  out,  but  that  need  not  be  discussed  here.  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  a  Darwinian  rather  than  a  Christian.  He  knew  there  was 
no  Hell.  How  could  he  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  the 

*  Mr.  Rhodes,  in  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  a  Presbyterian 
chapel  at  Woodstock,  near  Cape  Town,  in  1900,  expressed  himself 
as  follows  : — "  You  have  asked  me  to  come  here  because  you 
recognise  that  my  life  has  been  work.  Of  course  I  must  say  frankly 
that  I  do  not  happen  to  belong  to  your  particular  sect  in  religion. 
We  all  have  many  ideals,  but  I  may  say  that  when  we  come  abroad 
we  all  broaden.  We  broaden  immensely,  and  especially  in  this 
spot,  because  we  are  always  looking  on  that  mountain,  and  there 
is  immense  breadth  in  it.  That  gives  us,  while  we  retain  our 
individual  dogmas,  immense  breadth  of  feeling  and  consideration 
for  all  those  who  are  striving  to  do  good  work,  and  perhaps 
improve  the  condition  of  humanity  in  general.  .  .  .  The  fact 
is,  if  I  may  take  you  into  my  confidence,  that  I  do  not  care  to 
go  to  a  particular  church  even  on  one  day  in  the  year  when  I  use 
my  own  chapel  at  all  other  times.  I  find  that  up  the  mountain  one 
gets  thoughts,  what  you  might  term  religious  thoughts,  because 
they  are  thoughts  for  the  betterment  of  humanity,  and  I  believe 
that  is  the  best  description  of  religion,  to  work  for  the  betterment 
of  the  human  beings  who  surround  us.  This  stone  I  have  laid  will 
subsequently  represent  a  building,  and  in  that  building  thoughts 
will  be  given  to  the  people  with  the  intention  of  raising  their  minds 
and  making  them  better  citizens.  That  is  the  intention  of  the 
laying  of  this  stone.  I  will  challenge  any  man  or  any  woman,  however 
broad  their  ideas  may  be,  who  object  to  go  to  church  or  chapel,  to 
say  they  would  not  sometimes  be  better  for  an  hour  or  an  hour  and 
a  half  in  church.  I  believe  they  would  get  there  some  ideas  con- 
veyed to  them  that  would  make  them  better  human  beings.  There 
are  those  who,  throughout  the  world,  have  set  themselves  the  task 
of  elevating  their  fellow-beings,  and  have  abandoned  personal 
ambition,  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  perhaps  the  pursuit  of  art, 
and  many  of  those  things  that  are  deemed  most  valuable.  What  is 
left  to  them  ?  They  have  chosen  to  do  what  ?  To  devote  their 
whole  mind  to  make  other  human  beings  better,  braver,  kindlier, 
more  thoughtful,  and  more  unselfish,  for  which  they  deserve  the 
praise  of  all  men." 


The   House   in   which   Cecil    Rhodes   was  born. 

(By  kind  permission  of  fVtn.  Blackwood  and  Sons. ) 


88  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

Catholic  Church  ?  As  to  the  others,  these  were  merely  vulgar 
fractions  of  a  fraction.  He  respected  them  all  with  the  wide 
tolerance  of  a  Roman  philosopher,  but  they  neither  kindled  his 
enthusiasm  nor  commanded  his  devotion.  The  old  faiths  were 
dying  out.  If  his  life  were  to  have  a  worthy  goal,  it  must  be 
among  the  living,  not  among  the  dead,  with  the  future  rather 
than  the  past. 

A    DARWINIAN    IN    SEARCH    OF    GOD. 

Scr  he  went  on  digging  for  diamonds,  and  musing,  as  he 
digged,  on  the  eternal  verities,  the  truth  which  underlies  all 
phenomena:  He  was  a  Darwinian ;  he  believed  in  evolution. 
But  was  it  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  chain  of  sentient 
existences  which  stretched  unbroken  from  the  marine  Ascidean 
to  man,  stopped  abruptly  with  the  human  race  ?  "  Was  it  not 
at  least  thinkable  that  there  are  Intelligences  in  the  universe  as 
much  my  superior  in  intellect  as  I  am  superior  to  the  dog  ?  " 
"  Why  should  man  be  the  terminus  of  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion ?  "  So  he  reasoned,  as  all  serious  souls  have  reasoned  long 
before  Darwin  was  heard  of. 

Reincarnation,  the  possibility  of  an  existence  prior  to  this 
mortal  life,  did  not  interest  him.  "  Life  is  too  short,  after  all," 
he  used  to  say,  "  to  worry  about  previous  lives.  From  the 
cradle  to  the  grave — what  is  it  ?  Three  days  at  the  seaside. 
Just  that  and  nothing  more.  But  although  it  is  only  three  days, 
we  must  be  doing  something.  I  cannot  spend  my  time  throw- 
ing stones  into  the  water.  But  what  is  worth  while  doing  ?  " 
Then  upon  him  there  grew  more  and  more  palpably  real,  at 
least  as  a  possibility,  that  the  teachings  of  all  the  seers,  of  all 
the  religions,  were  based  on  solid  fact,  and  that  after  all  there 
was  a  God  who  reigned  over  all  the  children  of  men,  and  who, 
moreover,  would  exact  a  strict  account  for  all  the  deeds  which 
they  did  in  the  body.  He  combated  the  notion ;  but  the 
balance  of  authority  was  against  him.  All  religions,  in  alh 
times — surely  the  universal  instinct  of  the  race  had  something 
to  justify  it ! 

A    FIFTY    PER    CENT.    CHANCE. 

Mr.  Rhodes  argued  the  matter  out   in  his  cool,  practical 
way,  and  decided  the  question  for  himself  once  for  all.     He 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  89 

did  not  surrender  his  agnostic  position,  but  he  decided  that  it 
was  at  least  an  even  chance  that  there  might  be  a  God. 
Further  than  that  he  did  not  go.  A  fifty-per-cent.  chance 
that  there  is  a  God  Almighty  is  very  far  removed  from  the 
confident  certainty  of  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth." 
But  a  fifty-per-cent.  chance  God  fully  believed  in  is  worth  more 
as  a  factor  in  life  than  a  forty-per-cent.  faith  in  the  whole 
Christian  creed. 

"  WHAT   WCULDST   THOU    HAVE   ME   TO   DO  ?  " 

Mr.  Rhodes  had  no  sooner,  ciphered  out  his  fifty-per-cent. 
chance  than  he  was  confronted  with  the  reflection,  "  If  there 
be  a  God,  of  which  there  is  an  even  chance,  what  does  He  want 
me  to  do,  if  so  be  that  He  cares  anything  about  what  I  do  ?  " 
For  so  the  train  of  thought  went  on.  "  If  there  be  a  God,  and 
if  He  do  care,  then  the  most  important  thing  in  the  world  for 
me  is  to  find  out  what  He  wants  me  to  do,  and  then  go  and  do 
it."  *  But  how  was  he  to  find  it  out  ?  It  is  a  problem  which 

*  I  have  been  somewhat  severely  taken  to  task  by  Mr.  Bramwell 
Booth  for  what  he  regards  as  my  failure  to  do  full  justice  to  the 
religious  side  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  character.  By  way  of  making 
amends,  I  quote  the  following  extracts  from  the  remarks  made 
by  the  General  and  by  Mr.  W.  Bramwell  Booth  himself  after 
Mr.  Rhodes's  death.  General  Booth,  writing  in  the  War  Cry  of 
April  5th,  1902,  said  : — 

In  the  course  of  my  wanderings  I  have  been  privileged  to 
meet  with  many  of  the  class  of  individuals  who  are  said  to  be  the 
moving  spirits  of  the  world,  but  very  few  outside  the  pale  of 
Christian  and  philanthropic  circles  have  impressed  and  interested 
me  more  than  did  Cecil  Rhodes. 

The  first  time  we  met  was  on  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit  to 
South  Africa.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  then  Premier  of  Cape  Colony. 
That  was  in  the  year  1891.  He  received  me  at  the  Parliament 
Buildings. 

We  understood  one  another  at  once,  and  plunged  into  a  dis- 
cussion of  my  proposal  for  the  founding  of  "  An  Over-trie- Sea 
Colony."  "  Our  objects,  you  see,  differ,"  said  he.  "  You  are  set 
on  filling  the  world  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  My  ruling 
purpose  is  the  extension  of  the  British  Empire."  Then,  laying  his 
ringer  on  a  great  piece  of  the  map  showing  the  country,  part  of 
which  was  then  known  as  Mashonaland,  but  which  is  now  called 
after  his  name,  he  went  on  to  say,  "  If  this  part  of  South  Africa 
would  suit  you,  I  can  give  you  whatever  extent  of  land  you  may 
require." 

Years  passed  away.  In  1895  I  was  once  more  in  South  Africa. 
"  If,"  said  Mr.  Rhodes,  "  the  gold  turns  out  to  be  a  success,  the 

G   2 


90  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

puzzled  the  ancients.  "  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out 
God  ?  "  Are  not  His  ways  past  finding  out  ?  Perhaps  yes  ; 
perhaps  no.  They  "  did  not  know  everything  down  in  Judee." 
Anyhow,  Mr.  Rhodes  was  much  too  practical  and  thorough- 


markets  will  be  all  right  for  the  corn  and  vegetables  and  fruit  which 
you  and  your  colony  will  produce.  And  if  you  think  the  locality 
will  be  suitable,  you  had  better  send  some  capable  officers  to  survey 
the  country.  They  can  select  the  district  most  likely  to  answer 
your  purposes,  and  you  shall  have  what  land  is  necessary." 

This  offer  Mr.  Rhodes  made  in  the  most  deliberate  manner 
twice  over.  Of  course,  he  knew  what  I  wanted  to  do.  I  wanted 
the  country  for  the  people,  and  he  wanted  the  people  for  the 
country.  So  far,  we  were  one,  perhaps  not  much  further. 

As  the  interview  closed,  something  was  said  by  me  bearing  on 
his  spiritual  interests.  I  forget  what  I  said,  but  it  was  something 
straight,  personal,  and  it  was  understood  by  him  at  once.  While 
he  did  not  assent  to  my  remarks  by  any  passing  pretensions  to 
religion,  he  was  serious  and  thoughtful,  and  when  I  said  I  should 
pray  for  him,  he  responded,  "  Yes,  that  was  good."  Prayer,  he 
considered,  was  useful,  acting  as  a  sort  of  time-table,  bringing  before 
the  mind  the  duties  of  the  day,  and  pulling  one  up  to  face  the  obliga- 
tions for  their  discharge.  A  little  incident  that  occurred  some  years 
afterwards  showed  that  my  remarks  made  an  indelible  impression 
on  his  mind. 

Our  next  meeting  was  in  England.  In  company  with  Lord 
Loch  he  wanted  to  see  the  Hadleigh  Farm  Colony,  and  an  appoint- 
ment was  made  for  a  visit.  He  specially  desired  that  I  should 
accompany  him,  and,  of  course,  I  gladly  agreed.  My  son  (the  chief 
of  the  staff)  was  with  us.  We  went  down  together. 

After  the  journey  down  we  lunched  together,  and  wandered  over 
the  colony  and  discussed  its  principal  features.  Mr.  Rhodes  was 
interested  in  everything.  Nothing  struck  me  more  than  his  inquiring 
spirit.  "  What  is  this  ? "  and  "  What  is  it  for  ? "  and  "  How  does  it 
answer?"  or  "Who  is  this?"  "Where  does  he  come  from?" 
"  What  is  he  doing  ? "  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  him  ? "  were 
the  questions  constantly  on  his  lips,  and  to  say  that  he  was  interested 
is  saying  very  little.  The  whole  thing  evidently  took  a  strong  hold 
of  him. 

That  night  Colonel  Barker  accompanied  him  to  his  hotel,  where 
he  again  talked  over  the  things  he  had  seen,  and  assured  the 
Colonel  that  he  would  see  all  the  social  work  we  had  in  the  way  of 
shelters  and  elevators,  and  homes,  and  everything  else  of  the  kind 
before  he  returned  to  Africa. 

In  1899  Mr.  Rhodes  made  a  speech  at  the  Mansion  House  in 
support  of  the  army.  He  said  :  "  The  work  of  your  organisation 
is  a  practical  one.  (Loud  applause).  The  Cabinet,  of  which  I  was 
a  member,  was  appealed  to  for  a  contribution  for  the  army  in  that 
part  of  the  world.  Statistics  were  called  for,  and  we  gathered  that 
you  offered  homes  for  waifs  and  strays,  and  those,  perhaps,  who 
had  fallen  in  the  colony,  and  who,  when  released  from  prison,  had 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  91 

going  a  man  not  to  set  himself  to  the  task  of  ascertaining  the 
will  of  God  towards  us — if  so  be  that  there  be  a  God,  of  which, 
as  aforesaid,  the  Rhodesian  calculation  is  that  the  chances  are 
even,  for  or  against. 


another  chance  in  life  through  the  medium  of  your  organisation. 
We  learnt  that  they  were  provided  with  a  home  when  they  left  the 
prison,  and  obtained  a  fresh  start  in  life.  The  practical  view  which 
Parliament  took  of  that  work  was  to  vote  a  grant  in  their  favour, 
and  that  vote  has  been  continued  ever  since. 

"  I  have  been  told  by  Mr.  Bramwell  Booth  that  you  meet  here 
at  times  with  opposition.  I  have  even  been  told  by  members  of 
other  organisations  that  they  object  to  the  details  of  your  methods. 
I  have  been  told  that  objection  has  been  taken  to  the  use  of  the 
bands,  and  military  titles  of  your  officers,  but  I  do  know  this,  that 
in  my  own  Church  there  are  many  disputes  as  to  details — (a  laugh) 
— disputes  as  to  the  use  of  incense,  the  use  of  the  confessional,  the 
lighting  and  non-lighting  of  candles,  and  as  to  the  wearing  of 
embroidered  garments — (laughter) — but,  after  all  (and  Mr.  Rhodes 
waved  his  hand  as  to  emphasise  his  contempt  for  these  narrow- 
minded  objectors),  let  us  put  these  details  aside.  (Loud  applause.) 

"  What  do  we  recognise  ?  We  recognise  this,  that  they  are  not 
doing  the  work  of  the  ordinary  human  being.  Be  he  an  officer  of 
this  organisation,  a  minister  of  my  Church,  or  a  priest  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  they  all  have  a  higher  object.  They  give  their 
whole  lives  for  the  bettering  of  humanity.  I  can  simply  give  you 
my  word  that,  living  in  a  remote  portion  of  Her  Majesty's  dominions, 
I  gladly  give  my  testimony  to  the  good  and  practical  work  which 
you  do  in  that  part  of  the  world  that  I  have  adopted  as  my  home." 
(Loud  and  continued  applause.) 

Mr.  W.  Bramwell  Booth,  writing  in  the  War  Cry,  adds  his 
testimony  as  follows  : — 

But  it  was  during  that  day  on  the  colony  that  I  really  got  a 
glimpse  of  the  true  man.  He  was  down  with  us  at  the  General's 
invitation.  They  had  met  before  in  South  Africa,  and  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  evidently  much  taken  with  the  General.  I  have  heard  it  said 
that  he  was  a  silent,  taciturn  man,  cold,  stiff,  and  difficult  to  talk 
to.  I  saw  nothing  of  the  sort.  Before  we  had  been  seated  for  five 
minutes  in  the  railway  carriage  on  the  outward  journey,  he  and 
the  General  were  talking  as  hard  as  they  could  go  about  the  poor 
and  the  miserable  of  the  world,  about  South  Africa  and  the  native 
races,  about  the  prospects  of  our  work  in  Rhodesia— it  was  before 
this  awful  war — and  the  chances  of  our  getting  help  to  do  some- 
thing for  the  peoples  on  the  Zambesi.  Mr.  Rhodes  seemed  to  eater 
fully  into  the  General's  ideas  as  to  the  value  of  the  people  to  the 
country  before  all  else,  and  the  importance  of  caring  for  their  moral 
and  spiritual,  as  well  as  their  material  well-being.  After  a  while, 
the  General  proposed  prayer,  and,  kneeling  down  in  the  compart- 
ment, sought  God's  blessing  on  our  visitor.  Mr.  Rhodes  bowed 
his  head,  and  closed  his  eyes  with  much  reverence  ;  and  when  the 


Photograph  by\ 


\E.  H.  Mills. 


Mr.  and  Mrs.   Maguire. 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  93 

WHAT    IS    HE   DOING  ? 

Mr.  Rhodes,  as  I  have  said,  is  a  Darwinian.  He  believes 
in  the  gospel  of  evolution,  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  of 
progress  by  natural  selection.  With  such  outfit  as  this,  he  set 
himself  in  his  diamond-hole  to  attempt  the  solution  of  the 
oldest  of  all  problems.  "  If  there  be  a  God,  and  if  He  cares 
anything  about  what  I  do,  then,"  said  Rhodes  to  himself,  "  I 
think  I  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  concluding  that  He  would 
like  me  to  do  pretty  much  as  He  is  doing — to  work  on  the 
same  lines  towards  the  same  end.  Therefore,  the  first  thing 
for  me  to  do  is  to  try  to  find  out  what  God — if  there  be  a  God 
— is  doing  in  this  world ;  what  are  His  instruments,  what  lines 
is  He  going  on,  and  what  is  He  aiming  at.  The  next  thing, 
then,  for  me  to  do  is  to  do  the  same  thing,  use  the  same  instru- 
ments, follow  the  same  lines,  and  aim  at  the  same  mark  to  the 
best  of  my  ability." 

Having  thus  cleared  the  way,  Mr.  Rhodes  put  on  his 
thinking  cap  and  endeavoured  to  puzzle  out  answers  to  these 
questions.  It  sounds  somewhat  profane,  the  way  in  which 
he  puts  it ;  but  in  its  essence,  is  it  not  the  way  in  which 


General  took  his  seat  again,  held  out  his  hand  to  him  in  the  midst 
of  a  silence,  which  to  me  seemed  eloquent  of  thoughts  too  deep  for 
words.  Later  in  the  day  I  had  a  close  talk  with  him  about  eternal 
things.  I  have  no  idea  what  religious  training  or  experience  he 
may  have  had  in  the  past,  but  one  thing  was  quite  clear  to  me,  he 
had  a  lofty  conception  of  duty,  and  while  conscious  of  his  great 
influence,  knew  that  it  was  bestowed  on  him  in  the  providence  of 
God,  to  Whom  he  was  accountable  for  all. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  delighted  with  his  day  at  Hadleigh,  and  said 
so.  He  went  everywhere,  saw  everything,  asked  innumerable 
questions,  interviewed  officers  and  colonists,  tasted  the  soup,  chal- 
lenged the  price  of  the  coal,  offered  his  advice  on  the  value  of 
certain  fruit  trees,  and  chaffed  me  unmercifully  about  an  old 
portable  engine  which  ought,  no  doubt,  to  have  been  disposed  of 
long  ago,  but  which  our  poverty  had  induced  us  to  keep  going.  He 
was  much  impressed  by  some  of  the  colonists,  and  could  not  believe 
at  first  that  these  fine  brawny  fellows  could  ever  have  been  what, 
alas  !  we  knew  only  too  well  to  have  been  the  case.  The  General 
requested  him  to  speak  to  one  or  two,  and  he  was  delighted,  and 
showed  it  in  the  most  unaffected  manner. 

When  we  were  separating  that  night  at  Liverpool  Street  Station, 
he  said  to  me,  "  Ah  !  You  and  the  General  are  right ;  you  have  the 
best  of  me  after  all.  I  am  trying  to  make  new  countries ;  you  are 
making  new  men" 


94-  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

all  earnest  souls,  each  according  to  his  own  light,  have 
endeavoured  to  probe  the  mystery  of  the  universe  ?  Is  not 
the  supreme  profanity  not  the  use  of  mundane  dialect  to 
describe  the  process,  but  rather  the  failure  to  put  the  question 
at  all  ? 

(l)    THE    DIVINE   AREA    OF    ACTION. 

The  first  thing  that  impressed  Mr.  Rhodes,  as  the  result  of 
a  survey  of  the  ways  of  God  to  man,  is  that  the  Deity  must 
look  at  things  on  a  comprehensive  scale.  If  Mr.  Rhodes 
thinks  in  continents,  his  Maker  must  at  least  think  in  planets. 
In  other  words,  the  Divine  plan  must  be  at  least  co-extensive 
with  the  human  race.  If  there  be  a  God  at  all  who  cares 
about  us,  He  cares  for  the  whole  of  us,  not  for  an  elect  few  in 
a  corner.  Whatever  instrument  He  uses  must  be  one  that  is 
capable  of  influencing  the  whole  race.  Hence  the  range  of 
the  instrument,  or,  as  a  Papist  would  say,  the  catholicity  of  the 
Church,  is  one  of  the  first  credentials  of  its  Divine  origin  and 
authority.  Hole-and-corner  plans  of  salvation,  theological  or 
political,  are  out  of  court.  If  we  can  discover  the  traces  of 
the  Divine  plan,  it  must  be  universal,  and  that  agency  or 
constitution  which  most  nearly  approximates  to  it  in  the 
universality  of  its  influence  bears  the  Divine  trade-mark. 

(2)    THE   DIVINE    METHOD. 

This  conception  of  the  Divine  credentials  seemed  to 
Mr.  Rhodes  to  be  immediately  fatal  to  the  pretensions  of  all 
the  Churches.  They  may  be  all  very  good  in  their  way,* 

*  Mr.  Rhodes  was  emphatically  of  opinion  that  they  were  all 
good  in  their  way.  The  Rev.  A.  P.  Loxley,  writing  to  the  Times, 
says  : — "  When  so  much  is  being  said  as  to  Mr.  Rhodes's  attitude 
towards  religion  it  is  worth  remembering  what  he  did  and  said 
with  regard  to  education  in  Rhodesia.  His  plan  was  (and  it  had 
the  Bishop's  full  approval)  that  for  half  an  hour  every  morning  the 
ministers  of  each  Church  or  denomination  should  come  and  teach 
their  special  dogmas  to  the  children  of  the  members  of  their 
congregation.  Presiding  at  the  prize-giving  of  St.  John's,  Bulawayo, 
last  autumn,  he  said  : — '  In  England  a  Board  school  is  not  bound 
to  have  any  religion.  I  think  it  is  a  mistake,  just  as  I  think  it  is  a 
mistake  in  Australia  that  they  have  excluded  history  and  religion 
from  their  schools.  I  think  it  is  an  absolute  mistake,  because, 
after  all,  the  child  at  school  is  at  that  period  of  its  life  when  it  is 
most  pliable  to  thoughts,  and  if  you  remove  from  it  all  thought  of 
religion  I  do  not  think  you  make  it  a  better  human  being.  There 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  95 

but  one  and  all  are  sectional.  The  note  of  catholicity  is 
everywhere  lacking.  Even  the  Roman  Catholic  but  touches 
a  decimal  of  the  race.  Besides,  all  the  Churches  are  but  of 
yesterday.  They  belong  to  the  latest  phase  of  human  evolu- 
tion. What  Mr.  Rhodes  was  after  was  something  older  and 
more  universal.  He  found  it  in  the  doctrine  of  evolution. 
Here,  at  least,  was  a  law  or  uniform  method  of  Divine 
procedure  which  in  point  of  view  of  antiquity  left  nothing  to 
be  desired,  and  which  at  this  present  moment  is  universally 
active  among  all  sentient  beings.  What  is  the  distinctive 
feature  of  that  doctrine?  The  perfection  of  the  species, 
attained  by  the  elimination  of  the  unfit ;  the  favourable 
handicapping  of  the  fit.  The  most  capable  species  survives, 
the  least  capable  goes  to  the  wall.  The  perfecting  of  the 
fittest  species  among  the  animals,  or  of  races  among  men,  and 
then  the  conferring  upon  the  perfected  species  or  race  the 
title-deeds  of  the  future  ;  that  seemed  to  Mr.  Rhodes,  through 
his  Darwinian  spectacles,  the  way  in  which  God  is  governing 
His  world,  has  governed  it,  and  will  continue  to  govern  it,  so 
far  as  we  can  foresee  the  future. 

(3)    THE    DIVINE    INSTRUMENT. 

The  planet  being  postulated  as  the  area  of  the  Divine 
activity,  and  the  perfecting  of  the  race  by  process  of  natural 
selection,  and  the  struggle  for  existence  being  recognised  as  the 
favourite  instruments  of  the  Divine  Ruler,  the  question  imme- 
diately arose  as  to  which  race  at  the  present  time  seems  most 
likely  to  be  the  Divine  instrument  in  carrying  out  the  Divine 
idea  over  the  whole  of  this  planet.  The  answer  may  seem  to 
Chauvinists  obvious  enough.  But  Mr.  Rhodes  is  not  a 
Chauvinist.  He  was  conducting  a  serious  examination  into  a 
supremely  important  question,  and  he  would  take  nothing  for 
granted.  There  are  various  races  of  mankind — the  Yellow,  the 


is  no  doubt  but  that  it  is  during  the  period  of  youth  that  you  get 
those  impressions  which  afterwards  dominate  your  whole  life.  I 
am  quite  clear  that  a  child  brought  up  with  religious  thoughts 
makes  a  better  human  being.  I  am  quite  sure  to  couple  the 
ordinary  school  teaching  with  some  thoughts  of  religion  is  better 
than  dismissing  religion  from  within  the  walls  of  the  school.' " — 
Natal  Diocesan  Magazine. 


96  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

Black,  the  Brown,  and  the  White.  If  the  test  be  numerical, 
the  Yellow  race  conies  first.  But  if  the  test  be  the  area  of  the 
world  and  the  power  to  control  its  destinies,  the  primacy  of  the 
White  race  is  indisputable.  The  Yellow  race  is  massed  thick 
on  one  half  of  a  single  continent:  the  White  exclusively  occupies 
Europe,  practically  occupies  the  Americas,  is  colonising 
Australia,  and  is  dominating  Asia.  In  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence the  White  race  had  unquestionably  come  out  on  top. 

The  White  race  being  thus  favourably  handicapped  by  the 
supreme  Handicapper,  the  next  question  was  which  of  the 
White  races  is  naturally  selected  for  survival — which  is  proving 
itself  most  fit  in  the  conditions  of  its  environment  to  defeat 
adverse  influences  and  to  preserve  persistently  its  distinctive 
type? 

(4)    THE    DIVINE    IDEAL. 

At  this  point  in  the  analysis  Mr.  Rhodes  dropped  for  the 
moment  the  first  line  of  inquiry  to  take  up  another,  which 
might  lead  him  more  directly  to  his  goal.  What  is  it  that  God 
—if  there  be  a  God — is  aiming  at  ?  What  is  the  ultimate  aim 
of  all  this  process  of  evolution  ?  What  is  the  Divine  ideal 
towards  which  all  creation  presses,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously? To  find  out  the  ultimate  destination  of  sentient 
creatures  may  be  difficult  or  even  impossible ;  but  the  only 
clue  which  we  have  to  the  drift  of  the  Divine  action  is  to  note 
the  road  by  which  He  has  led  us  hitherto,  to  see  how  far  we 
have  got  already.  Then  we  may  be  in  a  position  to  infer, 
with  some  degree  of  probability,  the  route  that  has  still  to  be 
travelled.  If,  therefore,  we  wish  to  see  where  we  are  tending, 
the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  examine  those  who  are  in  advance. 
We  do  not  go  back  to  the  ape,  the  Bushman,  or  the  Pigmy  to 
see  the  trend  of  evolution.  We  go  rather  to  the  foremost  of 
mankind,  the  most  cultured  specimens  of  the  civilised  race, 
the  best  men,  in  short,  of  whom  we  have  any  records  or 
knowledge  since  history  began.  What  these  exceptionally 
— it  may  be  prematurely — evolved  individuals  have  attained  is 
a  prophecy  of  what  the  whole  phalanx  of  humanity  may  be 
destined  to  reach.  They  are  the  highwater  mark  of  the  race 
up  till  now.  Progress  will  consist  in  bringing  mankind  up  to 
their  level. 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  97 

THE    THREEFOLD    TEST:     JUSTICE — LIBERTY PEACE. 

Proceeding  further  in  his  examination  of  the  foremost  and 
most  highly  evolved  specimens  of  the  race,  Mr.  Rhodes 
found  them  distinguished  among  their  fellows  by  certain  moral 
qualities  which  enable  us  to  form  some  general  conception  as 
to  the  trend  of  evolution.  Contemplating  the  highest  realised 
standard  of  human  perfection,  Mr.  Rhodes  formed  the  idea 
that  the  cue  to  the  Divine  purpose  was  to  discover  the  race 
which  would  be  most  likely  to  universalise  certain  broad 
general  principles.  "  What,"  asked  Mr.  Rhodes,  "  is  the 
highest  thing  in  the  world  ?  Is  it  not  the  idea  of  Justice  ? 
I  know  none  higher.  Justice  between  man  and  man — equal, 
absolute,  impartial,  fair  play  to  all ;  that  surely  must  be  the 
first  note  of  a  perfected  society.  But,  secondly,  there  must  be 
Liberty,  for  without  freedom  there  can  be  no  justice.  Slavery 
in  any  form  which  denies  a  man  a  right  to  be  himself,  and  to 
use  all  his  faculties  to  their  best  advantage,  is,  and  must 
always  be,  unjust.  And  the  third  note  of  the  ultimate  towards 
which  our  race  is  bending  must  surely  be  that  of  Peace,  of  the 
industrial  commonwealth  as  opposed  to  the  military  clan  or 
fighting  Empire."  Anyhow,  these  three  seemed  to  Mr.  Rhodes 
sufficient  to  furnish  him  with  a  metewand  wherewith  to  measure 
the  claims  of  the  various  races  of  the  world  to  be  regarded  as 
the  Divine  instrument  of  future  evolution.  Justice,  Liberty, 
and  Peace — these  three.  Which  race  in  the  world  most 
promotes,  over  the  widest  possible  area,  a  state  of  society 
having  these  three  as  corner-stones  ? 

Who  is  to  decide  the  question  ?  Let  all  the  races  vote  and 
see  what  they  will  say.  Each  race  will  no  doubt  vote  for  itself, 
but  who  receives  every  second  vote  ?  Mr.  Rhodes  had  no 
hesitation  in  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the  English  race 
— the  English-speaking  man,  whether  British,  American, 
Australian,  or  South  African — is  the  type  of  the  race  which 
does  now,  and  is  likely  to  continue  to  do  in  the  future,  the  most 
practical,  effective  work  to  establish  justice,  to  promote  liberty, 
and  to  ensure  peace  over  the  widest  possible  area  of  the  planet. 

QUOD    ERAT    DEMONSTRANDUM  ! 

"Therefore,"  said  Mr.  Rhodes  to  himself  in  his  curious 
way,  "if there  be  a  God,  and  He  cares  anything  about  what  I 


98  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

do,  I  think  it  is  clear  that  He  would  like  me  to  do  what  He  is 
doing  Himself.  And  as  He  is  manifestly  fashioning  the  English- 
speaking  race  as  the  chosen  instrument  by  which  He  will  bring 
in  a  state  of  society  based  upon  Justice,  Liberty  and  Peace, 
He  must  obviously  wish  me  to  do  what  I  can  to  give  as  much 
scope  and  power  to  that  race  as  possible.  Hence,"  so  he 
concludes  this  long  argument,  "  if  there  be  a  God,  I  think  that 
what  He  would  like  me  to  do  is  to  paint  as  much  of  the  map 
of  Africa  British  red  as  possible,  and  to  do  what  I  can 
elsewhere  to  promote  the  unity  and  extend  the  influence  of  the 
English-speaking  race." 

Mr.  Rhodes  had  found  his  longed-for  ideal,  nor  has  he 
ever  since  then  had  reason  to  complain  that  it  was  not 
sufficiently  elevated  or  sufficiently  noble  to  be  worth  the 
devotion  of  his  whole  life. 

The  passage  in  Aristotle  which  exercised  so  much  influence 
upon  the  Oxford  undergraduate  was  his  definition  of  virtue, 
"  Virtue  is  the  highest  activity  of  the  soul  living  for  the  highest 
object  in  a  perfect  life."  That,  he  said,  had  always  seemed 
to  him  the  noblest  rule  to  follow,  and  he  made  it  his  rule  from 
the  first.  I  kept  no  written  notes  of  that  memorable  conver- 
sation. But  the  spirit  and  drift  of  our  talk  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  which  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Rhodes  three 
months  later  may  suffice  to  illustrate  : — 

"  I  have  been  thinking  a  great  deal  since  I  first  saw  you 
about  your  great  idea  "  (that  of  the  Society,  which  he  certainly 
did  not  take  from  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette),  "  and  the  more  I 
think  the  more  it  possesses  me,  and  the  more  I  am  shut  up  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  best  way  in  which  I  can  help  towards 
its  realisation  is,  as  you  said  in  a  letter  to  me  last  month,  by 
working  towards  the  paper.  ...  If,  as  it  seems  to  me,  your 
idea  and  mine  is  in  its  essence  the  undertaking  according  to 
our  lights  to  rebuild  the  City  of  God  and  reconstitute  in  the 
nineteenth  century  some  modern  equivalent  equipped  with 
modern  appliances  of  the  Mediaeval  Church  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury on  a  foundation  as  broad  as  Humanity,  then  some  pre- 
liminary inspection  of  the  planet  would  seem  almost  indis- 
pensable." 

Any  immediate  action  in  this  direction,  however,  was  post- 
poned until  he  made  a  success  of  Mashonaland.  He  wrote, 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  99 

"  If  we  made  a  success  of  this,  it  would  be  doubly  easy  to  carry 
out  the  programme  which  I  sketched  out  to  you,  a  part  of  which 
would  be  the  paper." 

So  he  wrote  from  Lisbon  on  his  way  out.  A  year  later 
(November  25th,  1890)  he  wrote  :— 

"  My  dear  Stead, — I  am  getting  on  all  right,  and  you  must 
remember  that  I  am  going  on  with  the  same  ideas  as  we  dis- 
cussed after  lunch  at  Sir  Charles  Mills'.  ...  I  am  sorry  I 
never  met  Booth.  I  understand  what  he  is  exactly.  .  .  .  When 
I  come  home  again  I  must  meet  Cardinal  Manning,  but  I  am 
waiting  until  I  make  my  Charter  a  success  before  we  attempt 
our  Society — you  can  understand." 

By  the  time  this  letter  reached  me  I  was  leaving  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette  and  preparing  for  the  publication  of  the  first 
number  of  the  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS.  It  was  an  enterprise  in 
which  Mr.  Rhodes  took  the  keenest  interest.  The  first  number 
was  issued  on  January  i5th,  1891.  He  regarded  it  as  a  prac- 
tical step  towards  the  realisation  of  his  great  idea,  the  reunion 
of  the  English-speaking  world  through  the  agency  of  a  central 
organ  served  in  every  part  of  the  world  by  affiliated  Helpers. 

This  interest  he  preserved  to  the  last.  He  told  me  with 
great  glee  when  last  in  England  how  he  had  his  copy  smuggled 
into  Kimberley  during  the  siege  at  a  time  when  martial  law  for- 
bade its  circulation,  and  although  he  made  wry  faces  over  some 
of  my  articles,  he  was  to  the  end  keenly  interested  in  its  success. 

After  this  explanation  I  venture  to  inflict  upon  my  readers 
some  extracts  from  the  opening  address  "  To  all  English- 
speaking  Folk,"  which  appeared  in  the  first  number  of  the 
REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS.  Possibly  they  may  read  it  to-day  with 
more  understanding  of  its  significance,  and  of  what  lay  behind 
in  the  thought  of  the  writer.  Mr.  Rhodes  regarded  it,  he 
used  to  say,  as  "an  attempt  to  realise  our  ideas,"  for  after  the 
first  talk  with  him  when  he  touched  upon  these  "  deep  things," 
it  was  never  "  my  ideas  "  or  "  your  ideas,"  but  always  "  our 
ideas."  Bearing  that  in  mind,  glance  over  a  few  brief  extracts 
from  the  manifesto  with  which  this  periodical  was  launched 
into  the  world  : — 

To  ALL  ENGLISH-SPEAKING  FOLK. 

There  exists  at  this  moment  no  institution  which  even  aspires  to  be  to 
the  English-speaking  world  what  the  Catholic  Church  in  its  prime  was  to 


ioo  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

the  intelligence  of  Christendom.  To  call  attention  to  the  need  for  such  an 
institution,  adjusted,  of  course,  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  the  New 
Era.  to  enlist  the  co-operation  of  all  those  who  will  work  towards  the 
creation  of  some  such  common  centre  for  the  inter-communication  of  ideas, 
and  the  universal  diffusion  of  the  ascertained  results  of  human  experience 
in  a  form  accessible  to  all  men,  are  the  ultimate  objects  for  which  this 
REVIEW  has  been  established. 

We  shall  be  independent  of  party,  because,  having  a  very  clear  and 
intelligible  faith,  we  survey  the  struggles  of  contending  parties  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  consistent  body  of  doctrine,  and  steadily  seek  to  use  all 
parties  for  the  realisation  of  our  ideals. 

These  ideals  are  unmistakably  indicated  by  the  upward  trend  of  human 
progress  and  our  position  in  the  existing  economy  of  the  world.  Among 
all  the  agencies  for  the  shaping  of  the  future  of  the  human  race  none 
seem  so  potent  now  and  still  more  hereafter  as  the  English-speaking  man. 
Already  he  begins  to  dominate  the  world.  The  Empire  and  the  Republic 
comprise  within  their  limits  almost  all  the  territory  that  remains  empty  for 
the  overflow  of  the  world.  Their  citizens,  with  all  their  faults,  are  leading 
the  van  of  civilisation,  and  if  any  great  improvements  are  to  be  made  in 
the  condition  of  mankind,  they  will  necessarily  be  leading  instruments  in 
the  work.  Hence  our  first  starting-point  will  be  a  deep  and  almost  awe- 
struck regard  for  the  destinies  of  the  English-speaking  man.  To  use 
Milton's  famous  phrase,  faith  in  "God's  Englishmen"  will  be  our  inspiring 
principle.  To  make  the  Englishman  worthy  of  his  immense  vocation,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  help  to  hold  together  and  strengthen  the  political  ties 
which  at  present  link  all  English-speaking  communities  save  one  in  a 
union  which  banishes  all  dread  of  internecine  war,  to  promote  by  every 
means  a  fraternal  union  with  the  American  Republic,  to  work  for  the 
Empire,  to  seek  to  strengthen  it,  to  develop  it,  and,  when  necessary,  to 
extend  it,  these  will  be  our  plainest  duties. 

Imperialism  within  limits  defined  by  common  sense  and  the  Ten 
Commandments  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  blatant  Jingoism  which 
some  years  ago  made  the  very  name  of  empire  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  all 
decent  people.  The  sobering  sense  of  the  immense  responsibilities  of  our 
Imperial  position  is  the  best  prophylactic  for  the  frenzies  of  Jingoism. 
And  in  like  manner  the  sense  of  the  lamentable  deficiencies  and  imperfec- 
tions of  "  God's  Englishmen,"  which  results  from  a  strenuous  attempt  to 
make  them  worthy  of  their  destinies,  is  the  best  preservative  against  that 
odious  combination  of  cant  and  arrogance  which  made  Heine  declare  that 
the  Englishman  was  the  most  odious  handiwork  of  the  Creator.  To  interpret 
to  the  English-speaking  race  the  best  thought  of  the  other  peoples  is  one 
among  the  many  services  which  we  would  seek  to  render  to  the  Empire. 

We  believe  in  God,  in  England,  and  in  Humanity.  The  English- 
speaking  race  is  one  of  the  chief  of  God's  chosen  agents  for  executing 
coming  improvements  in  the  lot  of  mankind.  If  all  those  who  see  that 
could  be  brought  into  hearty  union  to  help  all  that  tends  to  make  that 
race  more  fit  to  fulfil  its  providential  mission,  and  to  combat  all  that 
hinders  or  impairs  that  work,  such  an  association  or  secular  order  would 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  101 

constitute  a  nucleus  or  rallying  point  for  all  that  is  most  vital  in  the 
English  world,  the  ultimate  influence  of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to 
overrate. 

This  is  the  highest  of  all  the  functions  to  which  we  aspire.  Our 
supreme  duty  is  the  winnowing  out  by  a  process  of  natural  selection,  and 
enlisting  for  hearty  service  for  the  commonweal  all  those  who  possess 
within  their  hearts  the  sacred  fire  of  patriotic  devotion  to  their  country. 

Who  is  there  among  the  people  who  has  truth  in  him,  who  is  no  self- 
seeker,  who  is  no  coward,  and  who  is  capable  of  honest,  painstaking  effort 
to  help-  his^auntry  ?  For  such  men  we  would  search  as  for  hid  treasures. 
They  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of  the  world,  and  it  is  the  duty 
and  the  privilege  of  the  wise  man  to  see  that  they  are  like  cities  set  on  the 
hill  which  cannot  be  hid. 

The  great  word  which  has  now  to  be  spoken  in  the  ears  of  the  world  is 
that  the  time  has  come  when  men  and  women  must  work  for  the  salvation 
of  the  State  with  as  much  zeal  and  self-sacrifice  as  they  now  work  for  the 
salvation  of  the  individual.  To  save  the  country  from  the  grasp  of  demons 
innumerable,  to  prevent  this  Empire  or  this  Republic  becoming  an  incarnate 
demon  of  lawless  ambition  and  cruel  love  of  gold,  how  many  men  or 
women  are  willing  to  spend  even  one  hour  a  month  or  a  year?  The 
religious  side  of  politics  has  not  yet  entered  the  minds  of  men. 

What  is  wanted  is  a  revival  of  civic  faith,  a  quickening  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  political  sphere,  the  inspiring  of  men  and  women  with  the 
conception  of  what  may  be  done  towards  the  salvation  of  the  world,  if 
they  will  but  bring  to  bear  upon  public  affairs  the  same  spirit  of  self- 
sacrificing  labour  that  so  many  thousands  manifest  in  the  ordinary  drudgery 
of  parochial  and  evangelistic  work.  It  may,  no  doubt,  seem  an  impossible 
dream. 

That  which  we  really  wish  to  found  among  our  readers  is  in  very  truth 
a  civic  church,  every  member  of  which  should  zealously — as  much  as  it  lay 
within  him — preach  the  true  faith,  and  endeavour  to  make  it  operative  in 
the  hearts  and  heads  of  its  neighbours.  Were  such  a  church  founded  it 
would  be  as  a  great  voice  sounding  out  over  sea  and  land  the  summons  to 
all  men  to  think  seriously  and  soberly  of  the  public  life  in  which  they  are 
called  to  fill  a  part.  Visible  in  many  ways  is  the  decadence  of  the  Press. 
The  mentor  of  the  young  democracy  has  abandoned  philosophy,  and  stuffs 
the  ears  of  its  Telemachus  with  descriptions  of  Calypso's  petticoats  and  the 
latest  scandals  from  the  Court.  All  the  more  need,  then,  that  there  should 
be  a  voice  which,  like  that  of  the  muezzin  from  the  Eastern  minaret,  would 
summon  the  faithful  to  the  duties  imposed  by  their  belief. 

This,  it  may  be  said,  involves  a  religious  idea,  and  when  religion  is 
introduced  harmonious  co-operation  is  impossible.  That  was  so  once  ;  it 
will  not  always  be  the  case. 

To  establish  a  periodical  circulating  throughout  the  English-speaking 
world,  with  its  affiliates  or  associates  in  every  town,  and  its  correspondents 
in  every  village,  read  as  men  used  to  read  their  Bibles,  not  to  waste  an  idle 
hour,  but  to  discover  the  will  of  God  and  their  duty  to  man,  whose  staff 
and  readers  alike  are  bound  together  by  a  common  faith  and  a  readiness  to 


102  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

do  common  service  for  a  common  end — that,  indeed,  is  an  object  for  which 
it  is  worth  while  to  make  some  sacrifice.  Such  a  publication  so  supported 
would  be  at  once  an  education  and  an  inspiration ;  and  who  can  say, 
looking  at  the  present  condition  of  England  and  of  America,  that  it  is  not 
needed  ? 

That  was  my  idea  as  I  expressed  it.  That  was  Mr. 
Rhodes's  idea  also.  It  was  "  our  idea  " — his  idea  of  the  secret 
society — broadened  and  made  presentable  to  the  public 
without  in  any  way  revealing  the  esoteric  truth  that  lay 
behind.  Mr.  Rhodes  recognised  this  and  eagerly  wel- 
comed it. 

Mr.  Rhodes  returned  to  England  in  1891,  and  the  day 
after  his  arrival  he  came  round  to  Mowbray  House  and  talked 
for  three  hours  concerning  his  plans,  his  hopes,  and  his  ideas. 
Fortunately,  immediately  after  he  left  I  dictated  to  my  secretary 
a  full  report  of  the  conversation,  which,  as  usual,  was  very 
discursive  and  ranged  over  a  great  number  of  subjects  of  the 
day.  It  was  in  this  conversation,  after  a  close  and  prolonged 
argument,  that  he  expressed  his  readiness  to  adopt  the  course 
from  which  he  had  at  first  recoiled — viz.,  that  of  securing  the 
unity  of  the  English-speaking  race  by  consenting  to  the 
absorption  of  the  British  Empire  in  the  American  Union  if  it 
could  not  be  secured  in  any  other  way.  In  his  first  dream  he 
clung  passionately  to  the  idea  of  British  ascendency — this  was 
in  1877 — in  the  English-speaking  union  of  which  he  then 
thought  John  Bull  was  to  be  the  predominant  partner.  But  in 
1891,  abandoning  in  no  whit  his  devotion  to  his  own  country, 
he  expressed  his  deliberate  conviction  that  English-speaking 
reunion  was  so  great  an  end  in  itself  as  to  justify  even  the 
sacrifice  of  the  monarchical  features  and  isolated  existence 
of  the  British  Empire.  At  our  first  conversation  in  1889  he 
had  somewhat  demurred  to  this  frank  and  logical  acceptance  of 
the  consequences  of  his  own  principles;  but  in  1891  all 
hesitation  disappeared,  and  from  that  moment  the  ideal  of 
English-speaking  reunion  assumed  its  natural  and  final  place 
as  the  centre  of  his  political  aspirations.  He  resumed  very 
eagerly  his  conversation  as  to  the  realisation  of  his  projects. 
He  was  in  high  spirits,  and  expressed  himself  as  delighted  with 
the  work  which  I  had  done  in  founding  the  REVIEW  of 
REVIEWS,  and  especially  with  the  effort  which  was  made  to 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  103 

secure  the  co-operation  of  the  more  public-spirited  persons  of 
our  way  of  thinking  in  every  constituency  in  the  country, 
which  formed  the  inspiration  of  the  Association  of  Helpers. 

"  You  hive  begun,"  said  he,  "  to  realise  my  idea.  In  the 
REVIEW  and  the  Association  of  Helpers  you  have  made  the 
beginning  which  is  capable  afterwards  of  being  extended  so  as 
to  carry  out  our  idea." 

We  then  discussed  the  persons  who  should  be  taken  into 
our  confidence.  At  that  time  he  assured  me  he  had  spoken  of 
it  to  no  one,  with  the  exception  of  myself  and  two  others. 
He  authorised  me  to  communicate  with  two  friends,  now 
members  of  the  Upper  House,  who  were  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  the  gospel  according  to  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette, 
and  who  had  been  as  my  right  and  left  hands  during  my 
editorship  of  that  paper. 

He  entered  at  considerable  length  into  the  question  of  the 
disposition  of  his  fortune  after  his  death.  He  said  that  if  he 
were  to  die  then  the  whole  of  his  money  was  left  absolutely  at 
the  disposition  of  "  X." 

"  But,"  he  said,  •'  the  thought  torments  me  sometimes 
when  I  wake  at  night  that  if  I  die  all  my  money  will  pass  into 
the  hands  of  a  man  who,  however  well-disposed,  is  absolutely 
incapable  of  understanding  my  ideas.  I  have  endeavoured  to 
explain  them  to  him,  but  I  could  see  from  the  look  on  his  face 
that  it  made  no  impression,  that  the  ideas  did  not  enter  his 
mind,  and  that  I  was  simply  wasting  my  time." 

Mr.  Rhodes  went  on  to  say  that  his  friend's  son  was  even 
less  sympathetic  than  the  father,  and  he  spoke  with  pathos  of 
the  thought  of  his  returning  to  the  world  after  he  was  dead 
and  seeing  none  of  his  money  applied  to  the  uses  for  the  sake 
of  which  he  had  made  his  fortune. 

Therefore,  he  went  on  to  say,  he  proposed  to  add  my  name 
to  that  of  "  X.,"  and  to  leave  at  the  same  time  a  letter  which 
would  give  "  X."  to  understand  that  the  money  was  to  be  dis- 
posed of  by  me,  in  the  assured  conviction  that  I  should  employ 
every  penny  of  his  millions  in  promoting  the  ideas  to  which 
we  had  both  dedicated  our  lives. 

I  was  somewhat  startled  at  this,  and  remarked  that  "  X." 
would  be  considerably  amazed  when  he  found  himself  saddled 
with  such  a  joint-heir  as  myself,  and  I  suggested  to  Mr. 

H 


104  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

Rhodes  that  he  had  better  explain  the  change  which  he  was 
making  in  his  will  to  "  X."  while  he  was  here  in  London. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  my  letter  will  make  it  quite  plain 
to  him." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "but  there  may  be  trouble.  When  the 
will  is  opened,  and  he  discovers  that  the  money  is  left  really 
at  my  disposition,  instead  of  at  his,  there  may  be  ructions." 

"  I  don't  mind  that,"  said  Mr.  Rhodes ;  "I  shall  be 
gone  then." 

The  will  then  drawn  up  was  revoked  in  1893. 

In  1892  Mr.  Rhodes  was  back  in  London,  and  again  the 
question  of  the  disposition  of  his  fortune  came  up,  and  he 
determined  to  make  a  fifth  will.  Before  he  gave  his  final 
instructions  he  discussed  with  me  the  question  whether  there 
should  not  be  a  third  party  added,  so  that  we  should  be 
three.  We  discussed  one  or  two  names,  and  he  afterwards 
told  me  that  he  had  added  Mr.  Hawksley  as  a  third  party. 
His  reasons  for  doing  this  were  that  he  liked  Mr.  Hawksley, 
and  had  explained,  expounded,  and  discussed  his  views  with 
him,  and  found  him  sympathetic.  He  went  on  to  say  :— 

"  I  think  it  is  best  that  it  should  be  left  so.  You  know  my 
ideas,  and  will  carry  them  out.  But  there  will  be  a  great  deal 
of  financial  administration  that  "  X."  will  look  after.  Many 
legal  questions  will  be  involved,  and  these  you  can  safely 
leave  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hawksley." 

•And  so  it  was  that  when  the  fifth  will,  drafted  in  1892,  was 
signed  by  Mr.  Rhodes  in  1893,  "  X.,"  Mr.  Hawksley  and  myself 
were  left  sole  executors  and  joint-heirs  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  fortune, 
with  the  understanding  that  I  was  the  custodian  of  the 
Rhodesian  ideas,  that  I  was  to  decide  as  to  the  method  in 
which  the  money  was  to  be  used  according  to  these  ideas, 
subject  to  the  advice  of  "X."  on  financial  matters,  and  of 
Mr.  Hawksley  on  matters  of  law. 

In  1894  Mr.  Rhodes  came  to  England  and  again  discussed 
with  me  the  working  of  the  scheme,  reported  to  me  his 
impressions  of  the  various  Ministers  and  leaders  of  Opposition 
whom  he  met,  discussing  each  of  them  from  the  point  of  view 
as  to  how  far  he  would  assist  in  carrying  out  "  our  ideas." 
We  also  discussed  together  various  projects  for  propaganda, 
the  formation  of  libraries,  the  creation  of  lectureships,  the 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  105 

despatch  of  emissaries  on  missions  of  propagandism  throughout 
the  Empire,  and  the  steps  to  be  taken  to  pave  the  way  for  the 
foundation  and  the  acquisition  of  a  newspaper  which  was  to  be 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  cause.  There  was  at  one  time  a 
discussion  of  a  proposal  to  endow  the  Association  of  Helpers 
with  the  annual  income  of  ^"5,000,  but  Mr.  Rhodes  postponed 
the  execution  of  this  scheme  until  he  was  able  to  make  the 
endowment  permanent.  He  was  heavily  drawn  upon  in  the 
development  of  Rhodesia ;  he  did  not  wish  to  realise  his 
securities  just  then,  but  he  entered  with  the  keenest  interest 
into  all  these  projects. 

"  I  tell  you  everything,"  he  said  to  me  ;  "  I  tell  you  all  my 
plans.  You  tell  me  all  your  schemes,  and  when  we  get  the 
northern  country  settled  we  shall  be  able  to  carry  them  out. 
It  is  necessary,"  he  added,  "  that  I  should  tell  you  ail  my  ideas, 
in  order  that  you  may  know  what  to  do  if  I  should  go.  But," 
he  went  on,  "  I  am  still  full  of  vigour  and  life,  and  I  don't 
expect  that  I  shall  require  anyone  but  myself  to  administer  my 
money  for  many  years  to  come." 

It  was  at  an  interview  in  January,  1895,  that  Mr.  Rhodes 
first  announced  to  me  his  intention  to  found  scholarships.  It 
is  interesting  to  compare  the  first  draft  of  his  intentions  with 
the  final  form  in  which  it  was  given  in  his  will  of  1899  and  its 
codicil  of  1900.  He  told  me  that  when  he  was  on  the  Red 
Sea  in  1893  a  thought  suddenly  struck  him  that  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  to  create  a  number  of  scholarships  tenable  at  a 
residential  English  University,  that  should  be  open  to  the 
various  British  Colonies.  He  proposed  to  found  twelve 
scholarships  every  year,  each  tenable  for  three  years,  of  the 
value  of  ^250  a  year,  to  be  held  at  Oxford.  He  said  he 
had  added  a  codicil  to  his  will  making  provision  for  these 
scholarships,  which  would  entail  an  annual  charge  upon  his 
estate  of  about  ^£10,000  a  year.  He  explained  that  there 
would  be  three  for  French  Canadians  and  three  for  British. 
Each  of  the  Australasian  Colonies,  including  Western  Australia 
and  Tasmania,  was  to  have  three — that  is  to  say,  one  each 
year ;  but  the  Cape,  because  it  was  his  own  Colony,  was  to 
have  twice  as  many  scholarships  as  any  other  Colony.  This, 
he  said,  he  had  done  in  order  to  give  us,  as  his  executors  and 
heirs,  a  friendly  lead  as  to  the  kind  of  thing  he  wanted  done 

H  2 


io6  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

with   his   money.     The  scholarships   were   to    be   tenable  at 
Oxford. 

When  Mr.  Rhodes  left  England  in  February,  1895,  he  was 
at  the  zenith  of  his  power.  Alike  in  London  and  in  South 
Africa,  every  obstacle  seemed  to  bend  before  his  determined 
will.  It  was  difficult  to  say  upon  which  political  party  he  could 
count  with  greater  confidence  for  support.  He  was  indepen- 
dent of  both  parties,  and  on  terms  of  more  or  less  cordial 
friendship  with  one  or  two  leaders  in  both  of  the  alternative 
Governments.  In  Rhodesia  the  impis  of  Lobengula  had  been 
shattered,  and  a  territory  as  large  as  the  German  Empire 
had  been  won  for  civilisation  at  a  cost  both  in  blood  and 
treasure  which  is  in  signal  contrast  to  the  expenditure  incurred 
for  such  expeditions  when  directed  from  Downing  Street. 
When  he  left  England  everything  seemed  to  point  to  his  being 
able  to  carry  out  his  greater  scheme,  when  we  should  be  able 
to  have  undertaken  the  propagation  of  "  our  ideas  "  on  a  wider 
scale  throughout  the  world. 

And  then,  upon  this  fair  and  smiling  prospect,  the  abortive 
conspiracy  in  Johannesburg  of  the  Raid  cast  its  dark  and 
menacing  shadow  over  the  scene.  No  one  in  all  England  had 
more  reason  than  I  to  regret  the  diversion  of  Mr.  Rhodes's 
energies  from  the  path  which  he  had  traced  for  himself.  Who 
can  imagine  to  what  pinnacle  of  greatness  Mr.  Rhodes  might 
not  have  risen  if  the  natural  and  normal  pacific  development 
of  South  Africa,  which  was  progressing  so  steadily  under 
his  enlightened  guidance,  had  not  been  rudely  interrupted 
by  the  fiasco  for  which  Mr.  Rhodes  was  not  primarily 
responsible. 

It  was  what  seemed  to  me  the  inexplicable  desire  of  Mr. 
Rhodes  to  obtain  Bechuanaland  as  a  jumping-off  place  which 
led  to  the  first  divergence  of  view  between  him  and  myself  on 
the  subject  of  South  African  policy.  The  impetuosity  with 
which  his  emissaries  pressed  for  the  immediate  transfer  of 
Bechuanaland  to  the  Chartered  Company  made  me  very  uneasy, 
and  I  resolutely  opposed  the  cession  of  the  jumping-off  place 
subsequently  used  by  Dr.  Jameson  as  a  base  for  his  Raid. 
Mr.  Rhodes  was  very  wroth,  and  growled  like  an  angry  bear  at 
what  he  regarded  as  my  perversity  in  objecting  to  a  cession  of 
territory  for  which  I  could  see  no  reason,  but  which  he  thought 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  107 

it  ought  to  have  been  enough  for  me  that  he  desired  it.  My 
opposition  was  unfortunately  unavailing. 

In  the  two  disastrous  years  which  followed  the  Raid, 
although  I  saw  Mr.  Rhodes  frequently,  we  talked  little  or 
nothing  about  his  favourite  Society.  More  pressing  questions 
preoccupied  our  attention.  I  regretted  that  Mr.  Rhodes  was 
not  sent  to  gaol,  and  told  him  so  quite  frankly. 

For  reasons  which  need  not  be  stated,  as  they  are 
sufficiently  obvious,  no  attempt  was  made  to  bring  Mr. 
Rhodes  to  justice.  His  superiors  were  publicly  whitewashed, 
while  the  blow  fell  heavily  upon  his  subordinates.  When  Mr. 
Rhodes  came  back  to  "  face  the  music  "  he  fully  expected  that 
he  would  be  imprisoned,  and  had  even  planned  out  a  course 
of  reading  by  which  he  hoped  to  improve  the  enforced  sojourn 
in  a  convict  cell. 

Through  all  that  trying  time  I  can  honestly  say  that  I  did 
my  level  best  to  help  my  friend  out  of  the  scrape  in  which  he 
had  placed  himself  without  involving  the  nation  at  the  same 
time  in  the  disaster  which  subsequently  overtook  it.  My 
endeavour  to  induce  all  parties  to  tell  the  truth  and  to 
shoulder  the  modicum  of  blame  attaching  to  each  for  his 
share  of  the  conspiracy  failed.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  offered  up- 
as a  scapegoat.  But  although  differing  so  widely  on  the  vital 
question  with  which  was  bound  up  the  future  of  South  Africa, 
my  relations  with  Mr.  Rhodes  remained  as  affectionate  and 
intimate  as  ever.  The  last  time  I  saw  him  before  the  war 
broke  out  we  had  a  long  talk,  which  failed  to  bring  us  to 
agreement.  Mr.  Rhodes  said  that  he  had  tried  his  hand  at 
settling  the  Transvaal  business,  but  he  had  made  such  a  mess 
of  it  that  he  absolutely  refused  to  take  any  initiative  in  the 
matter  again.  The  question  was  now  in  the  hands  of  Lord 
Milner,  and  he  appealed  to  me  to  support  my  old  colleague, 
for  whose  nomination  as  High  Commissioner  I  was  largely 
responsible.  I  said  that  while  I  would  support  Milner  in 
whatever  policy  he  thought  fit  to  pursue,  so  long  as  he  con- 
fined himself  to  measures  of  peace,  I  could  not  believe,  even 
on  his  authority,  that  the  situation  in  South  Africa  would  justify 
an  appeal  to  arms.  Mr.  Rhodes  replied  : — 

"  You  will  support  Milner  in  any  measure  that  he  may  take 
short  of  war.  I  make  no  such  limitation.  I  support  Milner 


io8  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

absolutely  without  reserve.  If  he  says  peace,  I  say  peace ;  if 
he  says  war,  I  say  war.  Whatever  happens,  I  say  ditto  to 
Milner." 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Rhodes  it  must  be  said  that  he  was 
firmly  convinced  that  President  Kruger  would  yield,- and  that 
no  resort  to  arms  would  be  necessary.  He  went  to  South 
Africa  and  I  went  to  the  Hague,  and  we  did  not  meet  again 
until  after  the  siege  of  Kimberley. 

It  was  in  July,  1899,  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  that 
Mr.  Rhodes  revoked  his  will  of  1891,  and  substituted  for  it 
what  is  now  known  as  his  last  will  and  testament.  It  is 
probable  that  the  experience  which  we  had  gained  since  the 
Raid  of  the  difficulties  of  carrying  out  his  original  design  led 
him  to  recast  his  will  to  give  it  a  scope  primarily  educational, 
instead  of  leaving  the  whole  of  his  estate  to  me  and  my  joint- 
heirs  to  be  applied  as  I  thought  best  for  the  furtherance  of 
his  political  idea.  Anyhow,  the  whole  scheme  was  recast. 
Trustees  were  appointed  for  carrying  out  various  trusts,  all  of 
which,  however,  did  not  absorb  more' than  half  of  the  income 
of  his  estate.  The  idea  which  found  expression  in  all  his 
earlier  wills  reappeared  solely  in  the  final  clause  appointing  his 
trustees  and  executors  joint-heirs  of  the  residue  of  the  estate. 

In  selecting  the  executors,  trustees  and  joint-heirs  Mr. 
Rhodes  substituted  the  name  of  Lord  Grey  for  that  of  "X.," 
re-appointed  Mr.  Hawksley  and  myself,  strengthened  the 
financial  element  by  adding  the  names  of  Mr.  Beit  and 
Mr.  Michell,  of  the  Standard  Bank  of  South  Africa,  and  then 
<:ro\vned  the  edifice  by  adding  the  name  of  Lord  Rosebery. 
As  the  will  stood  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  there  were  six 
executors,  trustees,  and  joint-heirs — to  wit,  Mr.  Hawksley  and 
myself,  representing  the  original  legatees,  Lord  Rosebery, 
Lord  Grey,  Mr.  Beit,  and  Mr.  Michell. 

Many  discussions  took  place  during  the  framing  of  this  will. 
In  those  preliminary  discussions  I  failed  to  induce  Mr.  Rhodes 
to  persevere  in  his  original  intention  to  allow  the  scholarships 
to  be  held  equally  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  therein  I 
think  Mr.  Rhodes  was  right.  I  was  more  fortunate,  however, 
in  inducing  him  to  extend  the  scope  of  his  scholarships  so  as 
to  include  in  the  scheme  the  States  and  Territories  of  the 
American  Union,  but  he  refused  to  open  his  scholarships  to 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS.  109 

women.  He  was  for  some  time  in  difficulty  as  to  how  to 
provide  for  the  selection  of  his  scholarships,  for  he  rejected 
absolutely  all  suggestions  which  pointed  to  competitive  exami- 
nation pure  and  simple.  A  suggestion  made  by  Professor 
Lindsay,  of  Glasgow,  that  the  vote  of  the  boys  in  the  school 
should  be  decisive  as  to  the  physical  and  moral  qualities  of  the 
competitors  which  Mr.  Rhodes  desiderated  was  submitted  by 
me  to  Mr.  Rhodes,  and  incorporated  by  him  in  the  body  of 
the  will.  The  precise  proportion  of  the  marks  to  be  allowed 
under  each  head  was  not  finally  fixed  until  the  following  year. 
So  far  as  I  was  concerned,  although  still  intensely  interested 
in  Mr.  Rhodes's  conceptions,  the  change  that  was  then  made 
immensely  reduced  my  responsibility.  To  be  merely  one  of 
half  a  dozen  executors  and  trustees  was  a  very  different 
matter  from  being  charged  with  the  chief  responsibility  of 
using  the  whole  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  wealth  for  the  purposes  of 
political  propaganda,  which,  if  Mr.  Rhodes  had  been  killed  by 
the  Matabele  or  had  died  any  time  between  1891  and  1899,  it 
would  have  been  my  duty  to  undertake. 

When,  after  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Kimberley,  Mr. 
Rhodes  returned  to  London,  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him  at  the 
Burlington  Hotel  in  April,  1900.  Mr.  Rhodes,  although  more 
affectionate  than  he  had  ever  been  before  in  manner,  did  not 
in  the  least  disguise  his  disappointment  that  I  should  have 
thrown  myself  so  vehemently  into  the  agitation  against  the 
war.  It  seemed  to  him  extraordinary ;  but  he  charitably  con- 
cluded it  was  due  to  my  absorption  in  the  Peace  Conference 
at  the  Hague.  His  chief  objection,  which  obviously  was 
present  to  his  mind  when,  nearly  twelve  months  later,  he 
removed  me  from  being  executor,  was  not  so  much  the  fact 
that  I  differed  from  him  in  judgment  about  the  war,  as  that  I 
was  not  willing  to  subordinate  my  judgment  to  that  of  the 
majority  of  our  associates  who  were  on  the  spot.  He  said  : — 

"That  is  the  curse  which  will  be  fatal  to  our  ideas — 
insubordination.  Do  not  you  think  it  is  very  disobedient  of 
you  ?  How  can  our  Society  be  worked  if  each  one  sets  him- 
self up  as  the  sole  judge  of  what  ought  to  be  done  ?  Just  look 
at  the  position  here.  We  three  are  in  South  Africa,  all  of  us 
your  boys  " — (for  that  was  the  familiar  way  in  which  he  always 
spoke)  — "  I  myself,  Milner  and  Garrett,  all  of  whom  learned 


HO 


Photograph  by\ 


{Frederick  Hollyer. 


Mr.  F.  E.  Garrett. 


HIS  CONVERSATIONS,  in 

their  politics  from  you.  We  are  on  the  spot,  and  we  are 
unanimous  in  declaring  this  war  to  be  necessary.  You  have 
never  been  in  South  Africa,  and  yet  instead  of  deferring  to 
the  judgment  of  your  own  boys,  you  fling  yourself  into  a 
violent  opposition  to  the  war.  I  should  not  have  acted  in 
that  way  about  an  English  question  or  an  American  question. 
No  matter  how  much  I  might  have  disliked  the  course  which 
you  advised,  I  would  have  said,  '  No,  I  know  Stead ;  I  trust 
his  judgment,  and  he  is  on  the  spot.  I  support  whatever 
policy  he  recommends.'  " 

"  It's  all  very  well,"  I  replied,  "  but  you  see,  although  I 
have  never  been  in  South  Africa,  I  learned  my  South  African 
policy  at  the  feet  of  a  man  who  was  to  me  the  greatest 
authority  on  the  subject.  He  always  impressed  upon  me 
one  thing  so  strongly  that  it  became  a  fixed  idea  in  my  mind, 
from  which  I  could  never  depart.  That  principle  was  that  you 
could  not  rule  South  Africa  without  the  Dutch,  and  that  if 
you  quarrelled  with  the  Dutch  South  Africa  was  lost  to  the 
Empire.  My  teacher,"  I  said,  "  whose  authority  I  reverence 
— perhaps  you  know  him  ?  His  name  was  Cecil  John 
Rhodes.  Now  I  am  true  to  the  real,  aboriginal  Cecil 
John  Rhodes,  and  I  cannot  desert  the  principles  which  he 
taught  me  merely  because  another  who  calls  himself  by  the 
same  name  advises  me  to  follow  an  exactly  opposite  policy." 

Mr.  Rhodes  laughed  and  said  :  "  Oh,  well,  circumstances 
have  changed.  But  after  all  that  does  not  matter  now.  The 
war  is  ending,  and  that  is  a  past  issue." 

Mr.  Rhodes  went  back  to  Africa  and  I  did  not  see  him 
again  till  his  return  last  year.  In  January,  1901,  he  had 
added  a  codicil  to  his  will,  removing  my  name  from  the  list  of 
executors,  fearing  that  the  others  might  find  it  difficult  to  work 
with  me.  He  wrote  me  at  the  same  time  saying  I  was  "  too 
masterful "  to  work  with  the  other  executors.* 

*  On  this  subject  Mr.  B.  F.  Hawksley,  solicitor  to  Mr.  Rhodes, 
writes  : — "  It  is  quite  true  that  Mr.  Rhodes  associated  my  friend 
Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  wfth  those  upon  whom  he  has  imposed  the  task 
of  carrying  out  his  aspirations.  In  the  far  back  days  when  Mr. 
Stead  expounded  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  the  common  interests 
of  the  English-speaking  peoples  his  acquaintance  was  sought  by 
Mr.  Rhodes — an  acquaintanceship  which  ripened  into  a  close 
intimacy  and  continued  to  the  last.  Mr.  Rhodes  recognised  in 


ii2  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

In  the  October  of  that  year  he  added  Lord  Milner's  name 
to  the  list  of  executors  and  joint-heirs,  and  in  March,  on  his 
deathbed,  he  added  the  name  of  Dr.  Jameson  to  the  list  of 
trustees. 

Looking  back  over  this  whole  episode  of  my  career — an 
episode  now  definitely  closed — I  remember  with  gratitude  the 
help  which  I  was  able  to  give  to  Mr.  Rhodes,  and  I  regret  that 
in  the  one  great  blunder  which  marred  his  career  my  opposi- 
tion failed  to  turn  him  from  his  purpose.  Both  in  what  I 
aided  him  to  do  and  in  what  I  attempted  to  prevent  his  doing, 
I  was  faithful  to  the  great  ideal  for  the  realisation  of  which  we 
first  shook  hands  in  1889. 

Apart  from  the  success  or  failure  of  political  projects, 
I  have  the  satisfaction  of  remembering  the  words  which 
Mr.  Rhodes  spoke  in  April,  1900,  when  the  war  was  at  its 
height.  Taking  my  hand  in  both  of  his  with  a  tenderness 
quite  unusual  to  him,  he  said  to  me : — 

""Now  I  want  you  to  understand  that  if,  in  future,  you 
should  unfortunately  feel  yourself  compelled  to  attack  me 
personally  as  vehemently  as  you  have  attacked  my  policy  in 
this  war,  it  will  make  no  difference  to  our  friendship.  I  am 
too  grateful  to  you  for  all  that  1  have  learned  from  you  to 
allow  anything  that  you  may  write  or  say  to  make  any  change 
in  our  relations." 

How  few  public  men  there  are  who  would  have  said  that ! 
And  yet  men  marvel  that  I  loved  him — and  love  him  still. 

That  Mr.  Rhodes  is  no  more  with  us  may  seem  to  some  a 
conclusive  reason  why  all  hope  should  be  abandoned  of  realis- 
ing his  great  idea.  To  me  it  seems  that  the  death  of  the 
Founder  in  the  midst  of  his  unaccomplished  labours  is  a  trumpet 


Mr.  Stead  one  who  thought  as  he  did,  and  who  had  a  marvellous 
gift  enabling  him  to  clothe  with  a  literary  charm  ideas  they  both 
held  dear — even  as  the  diamond-cutter  will  by  his  work  expose  the 
brilliancy  of  the  rough  diamond.  As  Mr.  Rhodes  frequently  said 
to  me  and  to  others,  including  Mr.  Stead  himself,  the  friendship  of 
the  two  men  was  too  strong  to  be  broken  by  passing  differences  on 
the  South  African  war.  The  removal  of  Mr.  Stead's  name  from 
Mr.  Rhodes's  testament  arose  from  other  causes  quite  appreciated 
by  Mr.  Stead,  and  which  did  honour  alike  to  both  men.  More  it  is 
unnecessary  for  me  to  say,  except  that  I  shall  be  grateful  if  this 
plain  statement  can  receive  the  widest  publicity." 


HIS   CONVERSATIONS.  113 

call  to  all  those  who  believed  in  him  to  redouble  their  exertions 
to  carry  out  his  vast  designs  for  the  achievement  of  the  unity  of 
the  English-speaking  race. 

What  is  the  Rhodesian-ideal  ?  It  is  the  promotion  of  racial 
unity  on  the  basis  of  the  principles  embodied  in  the  American 
Constitution.  The  question  of  differential  tariff  is  a  matter  of 
detail.  The  fundamental  principle  is,  as  Mr.  Rhodes  very 
clearly  saw,  the  principle  of  the  American  Constitution ;  and, 
as  he  bluntly  said,  that  is  Home  Rule.  As  an  Empire  we  must 
federate  or  perish. 

Mr.  Rhodes  saw  this  as  clearly  as  Lord  Rosmead,  who 
was  the  first  author  of  the  saying ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  many  of  those  who  call  themselves  Rhodesians  have 
not  yet  accepted  the  very  first  principle  of  Mr.  Rhodes's 
doctrine. 

So  this  day  they  apologise  for  the  subscription  to  Mr. 
Parnell's  Home-Rule  Chest  as  if  it  were  a  lamentable  aberra- 
tion. It  was,  on  the  contrary,  the  very  keynote  of  the  whole 
Rhodesian  gospel.  No  man  had  less  sympathy  with  the  high- 
flying Imperialists  of  Downing  Street  than  had  Mr.  Rhodes. 
No  man  more  utterly  detested  the  favourite  maxims  of  military 
satraps  and  Crown  G  overnors.  When  he  came  home  from  the 
siege  of  Kimberley  he  told  me  that  he  expected  "  in  two  years' 
time  to  be  the  best  abused  man  in  South  Africa  by  the 
Loyalists."  "  I  am  delighted  to  hear  it,"  I  replied ;  "  but 
how  will  that  come  about  ? "  "  Because,"  he  said,  "  these 
people  have  set  their  minds  upon  trampling  on  the  Dutch,  and 
I  am  not  going  to  allow  it.  For  you  cannot  govern  South 
Africa  by  trampling  on  the  Dutch." 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  a  Home  Ruler  first  and  an  Imperialist 
afterwards.  He  realised  more  keenly  than  most  of  his 
friends  that  the  Empire  was  doomed  unless  the  principle  of 
Home  Rule  was  carried  out  consistently  and  logically  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  King's  dominions.  "  If  you  want  to 
know  how  it  is  to  be  done,"  he  once  said  to  me,  "  read  the 
Constitution  and  the  history  of  the  United  States.  The 
Americans  have  solved  the  problem.  It  is  no  new  thing  that 
need  puzzle  you.  English-speaking  men  have  solved  it,  and 
for  more  than  a  hundred  years  have  tested  its  working.  Why 
not  profit  by  their  experience  ?  What  they  have  proved  to 


U4  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

be  a  good  thing  for  them  is  not  likely  to  be  a  bad  thing 
for  us." 

To  be  a  Rhodesian,  then,  of  the  true  stamp  you  must  be  a 
Home  Ruler  and  something  more.  You  must  be  an  Imperialist, 
not  from  mere  lust  of  dominion  or  pride  of  race,  but  because  you 
believe  the  Empire  is  the  best  available  instrument  for  diffusing 
the  principles  of  Justice,  Liberty,  and  Peace  throughout  the 
world.  Whenever  Imperialism  involves  the  perpetration  of 
Injustice,  the  suppression  of  Freedom,  and  the  waging  of  wars 
other  than  those  of  self-defence,  the  true  Rhodesian  must 
cease  to  be  an  Imperialist.  But  a  Home  Ruler  and  Federalist, 
according  to  the  principles  of  the  American  Constitution,  he 
can  never  cease  to  be,  for  Home  Rule  is  a  fundamental 
principle,  whereas  the  maintenance  and  extension  of  the 
Empire  are  only  means  to  an  end,  and  may  be  changed,  as 
Mr.  Rhodes  was  willing  to  change  them.  If,  for  instance,  the 
realisation  of  the  greater  ideal  of  Race  Unity  could  only  be 
brought  about  by  merging  the  British  Empire  in  the  American 
Republic,  Mr.  Rhodes  was  prepared  to  advocate  that  radical 
measure. 

The  question  that  now  arises  is  whether  in  the  English- 
speaking  world  there  are  to  be  found  men  of  faith  adequate  to 
furnish  forth  materials  for  the  Society  of  which  Mr.  Rhodes 
dreamed : — 

Still  through  our  paltry  stir  and  strife 

Glows  down  the  wished  Ideal, 
And  Longing  moulds  in  clay  what  Life 

Carves  in  the  marble  Real. 

We  have  the  clay  mould  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  longed-for  Society. 
Have  we  got  the  stuff,  in  the  Empire  and  the  Republic,  to 
carve  it  in  marble  ? 

Mr.  Rhodes,  like  David,  may  have  had  to  yield  to  a 
successor  the  realisation  of  an  ideal  too  lofty  to  be  worked  out 
by  the  man  who  first  conceived  it. 

"  It  was  in  my  mind,"  said  the  old  Hebrew  monarch  as  he 
came  to  die,  "  to  build  an  house  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord 
my  God.  But  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  me,  saying, 
Thou  hast  shed  blood  abundantly,  and  hast  made  great  wars  ; 


HIS    CONVERSATIONS.  115 

thou  shalt  not  build  an  house  unto  My  name,  because  thou 
hast  shed  much  blood  upon  the  earth  in  My  sight.  Behold,  a 
son  shall  be  bora  to  thee,  who  shall  be  a  man  of  rest.  .  .  . 
he  shall  build  an  house  for  My  name." 

So  it  may  be  that  someone  coming  after  Mr.  Rhodes  may 
prosper  exceedingly  in  founding  the  great  Order  of  which 
Mr.  Rhodes  did  dream. 


n6 


117 


CHAPTER   III.-HIS   CORRESPONDENCE. 

MR.  RHODES  was  not  a  great  letter- writer.  A  few  of  his 
friends,  such  as  Mr.  Rudd,  his  partner  in  his  early  days,  have 
a  copious  collection  of  letters  from  Mr.  Rhodes,  but  few  public 
men  were  ever  so  sparing  in  their  correspondence.  Of  his 
published  letters  there  are  two  series  which  cannot  be  omitted 
from  any  attempt  to  represent  the  Rhodesian  ideas.  The 
first  is  the  Parnell  correspondence  of  1888,  and  the  other  the 
Schnadhorst  correspondence  of  1891.  These  are  the  only  two 
occasions  on  which  Mr.  Rhodes  took  a  direct  hand  in  Imperial 
politics  outside  his  own  particular  sphere.  In  both  he  operated 
in  the  same  way,  namely,  by  using  his  wealth  to  put  a  premium 
upon  certain  policies  or  orfer  a  reward  for  the  repudiation  of 
certain  heresies.  It  is  unnecessary  here  to  go  minutely  into 
the  genesis  of  the  famous  donation  to  the  Irish  National  funds. 
It  is  well,  however,  to  remember  that,  like  almost  every  other 
colonist,  Mr.  Rhodes  was  a  Home  Ruler  long  before  the  adop- 
tion of  Home  Rule  as  the  official  creed  of  the  Liberal  Party. 
From  1882-84  Mr.  Rhodes  seems  to  have  dallied  with  the  idea 
of  standing  for  a  seat  in  Parliament,  nominally  as  member  of 
the  Conservative  Party,  but  really  as  member  for  South  Africa. 
The  idea  had  gained  sufficient  substance  for  Sir  Charles  Warren 
to  write  to  Mr.  Rhodes's  brother  (March  4th,  1884),  saying, 
"  Your  brother  has  great  mental  power  for  organising,  and  will 
be  a  most  valuable  addition  to  the  Conservative  ranks." 

In  1885,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  had  taken  the  plunge  for 
Home  Rule,  Mr  Rhodes  seriously  contemplated  standing  for 
Parliament  as  Liberal  candidate  for  the  constituency  in  which 
the  Dalston  property  of  his  family  was  situated.  On  looking 
at  the  matter  more  closely,  however,  he  found  that  Parlia- 
mentary attendance  would  be  too  great  a  tax  upon  his  time. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  alternate  between  West- 
minster and  South  Africa,  as  in  the  old  days  he  divided  his 
life  between  Kimberley  and  Oriel  College.  He  returned  to 
Africa,  but  continued  to  follow  with  the  keenest  interest  the 
course  of  Imperial  politics. 


n8  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

His  sympathies  being  well  known,  overtures  were  made  to 
him  on  the  part  of  some  sympathisers  with  the  Irish  National 
Party  as  to  whether  he  could  not  be  induced  to  contribute  to 
their  funds.  Mr.  Swift  MacNeill  was  employed  as  an  inter- 
mediary, and  the  result  of  the  communications  was  that  Mr. 
Rhodes  intimated  his  readiness  to  subscribe  to  the  Home  Rule 
funds  on  condition  that  Mr.  Parnell  assented  to  the  retention 
of  the  Irish  members  at  Westminster.  Mr.  Rhodes  held  that 
Mr.  Gladstone's  first  Home  Rule  Bill  simply  proposed  to  con- 
vert Ireland  into  a  taxed  republic,  without  representation  in 
the  central  governing  body  of  the  Empire,  thus  making  Home 
Rule  lead  direct  to  disruption,  instead  of  making  it  a  stepping- 
stone  to  federation.  Mr.  Rhodes  entirely  accepted  the  formula 
so  succinctly  stated  by  Lord  Rosmead,  when  he  declared  that 
"  as  an  Empire  we  must  federate  or  perish,  and  the  one  hope 
of  the  Empire  is  that  the  Irish  may  compel  us  to  federate, 
even  against  our  will." 

When  Mr.  Gladstone,  therefore,  instead  of  seizing  the 
opportunity  presented  by  the  concession  of  Home  Rule  to 
introduce  the  principle  of  federalism  of  the  British  Constitu- 
tion, took  the  fatal  and  false  road  of  proposing  to  banish  the 
Irish  members  altogether  from  the  assembly  which  still  retained 
the  right  of  exacting  heavy  tribute  from  the  Irish  taxpayer, 
Mr.  Rhodes  felt  that  an  important  crisis  had  been  reached  in 
the  history  of  the  Empire.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  act, 
and  to  act  with  decision.  Mr.  Swift  MacNeilPs  conversations 
had  revealed  to  him  the  nakedness  of  the  Nationalist  treasury. 
He  was  solicited  to  subscribe  to  keep  the  Home  Rule  agitation 
going.  He  saw  the  situation,  and  seized  it  with  his  characteristic 
promptitude.  On  his  return  to  England,  Mr.  Parnell  called  upon 
Mr.  Rhodes  at  the  Westminster  Palace  Hotel,  and  a  transaction 
took  place  between  them,  which  Mr.  Rhodes  always  regarded  as 
very  good  business  for  the  Empire.  In  his  belief  he  succeeded 
in  pledging  Mr.  Parnell  to  the  abandonment  of  the  old  disruptive 
idea  of  the  first  Gladstonian  Home  Rule  Bill,  and  his  loyal 
acceptance  of  the  principle  of  federalism.  By  this  arrangement 
Mr.  Parnell,  instead  of  accepting  the  exclusion  of  Irish  members 
from  Westminster  and  the  conversion  of  Ireland  into  a  taxed 
republic,  which  would  be  furnished  in  advance  with  an  excuse 
for  revolt  by  the  familiar  maxim  "  taxation  without  representa- 


T2o  POLITICAL  A^7D  RELIGIOUS   IDEAS. 

tion  is  tyranny."  undertook  to  accept  a  Home  Rule  Bill  based 
upon  the  opposite  principle  of  the  retention  of  Irish  members. 
Mr.  Rhodes  wished  the  numbers  of  the  Irish  to  be  reduced 
from  their  present  figure  of  103  to  34,  at  any  rate  unless  he  was 
guaranteed  the  full  control  of  the  Irish  police  and  judiciary. 
At  that  ti  me  he  was  willing  that  the  question  of  the  reduction 
of  the  Irish  representation  at  Westminster  to  the  figure  corre- 
sponding to  the  extent  of  their  contribution  to  Imperial  taxation 
should  be  debated  as  an  open  question.  He  also  agreed  that 
he  would  not  make  any  opposition  to  a  clause  permitting  any 
self-governing  colony  to  send  representatives  to  the  House  of 
Commons  on  the  basis  of  the  amount  of  their  annual  contribu- 
tion to  the  Imperial  exchequer. 

Mr.  Parnell  himself  said  he  was  prepared  to  accept  this 
•cheerfully,  but  when  pressed  by  Mr.  Rhodes  to  move  an 
-amendment  he  demurred  on  the  ground  that  some  of  his  party 
might  object.  The  deal  having  thus  been  arranged  in  personal 
interview,  from  which  both  parties  emerged  with  a  profound 
respect  for  each  other,  Mr.  Rhodes  proceeded  to  embody  the 
.substance  of  their  bargain  in  the  following  letter  *  to  Mr. 
Parnell  :— 

Westminster  Palace  Hotel, 
London,  S.W. 

June  i gth,  1888. 

Dear  Sir, — On  my  way  to  the  Cape  last 
autumn  I  had  the  opportunity  of  frequent  con- 
versations with  Mr.  Swift  MacNeill  upon  the 
subject  of  Home  Rule  for  Ireland.  I  then  told 

*  The  date  of  this  letter  is  sufficient  to  prove  the  absurdity  of 
the  popular  superstition  that  Mr.  Rhodes  bought  the  support  of  the 
Irish  Party  for  the  Charter  by  a  gift  of  ,£10,000.  At  that  time 
there  had  been  no  application  for  the  Charter,  and  Mr.  Rhodes 
had  not  then  obtained  the  mineral  concession  from  Lobengula 
upon  which  the  application  for  the  Charter  was  based.  Neither 
Mr.  Rhodes  nor  Mr.  Parnell  alluded  to  the  subject,  either  in  con- 
versation or  in  writing.  The  contract  between  the  African  and  the 
Irishman  was  strictly  limited  to  the  conversion  of  Home  Rule  from 
a  disruptive  to  a  federative  measure.  It  had  no  relation  directly 
or  indirectly  to  any  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  Irish-African  schemes.  The 
whole  story  is  told  at  length  by  "  Vindex  "  in  an  appendix  to  "  The 
Political  Life  and  Speeches  of  Mr.  Cecil  Rhodes,"  from  which  I 
quote  these  letters. 


HIS   CORRESPONDENCE.  121 

him  that  I  had  long  had  a  sympathy  with  the 
Irish  demand  for  self-government,  but  that  there 
were  certain  portions  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  Bill 
which  appeared  open  to  the  gravest  objections. 
The  exclusion  of  the  Irish  members  from 
Westminster  seemed  rightly  to  be  considered, 
both  in  England  and  the  Colonies,  as  a  step  in 
the  direction  of  pure  separation ;  while  the 
tribute  clauses  were,  on  the  face  of  them, 
degrading  to  Ireland  by  placing  it  in  the  position 
of  a  conquered  province,  and  were  opposed  to 
the  first  principles  of  constitutional  government 
by  sanctioning  taxation  without  representation. 
It  has  been  frequently  stated  that  the  hearty 
acquiescence  of  the  Irish  members  in  these 
proposals  gave  good  grounds  for  believing  that 
they  were  really  working  for  complete  separation 
from  England.  Mr.  MacNeill  assured  me  that 

o 

this  was  not  the  case  ;  that  naturally  the  first 
object  of  the  Irish  members  was  to  obtain  self- 
government  for  Ireland  ;  and  that  when  this, 
their  main  object,  was  secured,  it  did  not  become 
them  to  criticise  or  cavil  at  the  terms  of  the 
grant  made  to  them.  Moreover,  he  said  he 
believed  that  the  Irish  members  were  only  too 
anxious  to  support  Irish  representation  at 
Westminster,  should  a  suitable  scheme  contain- 
ing the  necessary  provisions  be  brought  forward. 
Lord  Rosebery,  in  his  recent  speech  at  Inverness ', 
has  suggested  a  possible  solution.  He  there  pro- 
poses a  reduced  Irish  representation  at  West- 
minster ;  this  representation  could  be  based  upon 
the  amount  of  tJie  Irish  contribution  to  the  Imperial 
revenue.  A  nd  though  it  seems  illogical  t/iat  Irish 
members  should  vote  on  English  local  matters,  still, 
taking  into  consideration  the  large  indirect  contribu- 
tion that  Ireland  would  make  in  connection  with 


I   2 


122  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

trade  and  commerce,  and  that  the  English  people 
are  not  prepared  at  present  to  accept  any  vital 
change  of  their  Constitution,  it  would  appear  more 
workable  that  this  reduced  number  of  Irish  members 
should  speak  and  vote  even  on  purely  English  local 
questions  tJian  that  at  doubtful  intervals  they  should 
be  called  upon  to  withdraw  into  an  outside  lobby. 

With  (some  sucJi)  safeguards— and  they  must 
be  effective  safeguards  for  the  maintenance  of 
Imperial  unity — I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the 
Home  Rule  granted  should  be  a  reality,  and  not 
a  sham. 

If  the  Irish  are  to  be  conciliated  and  benefited 
by  the  grant  of  self-government,  they  should  be 
trusted,  and  trusted  entirely.  Otherwise  the 
application  of  popular  institutions  to  Ireland  must 
be  deemed  impracticable,  and  the  only  alternative 
is  the  administration  of  the  country  as  a  Crown 
colony,  which  plan  in  the  present  state  of  public 
opinion  is  totally  impossible. 

My  experience  in  the  Cape  Colony  leads  me 
to  believe  that  the  Ulster  question  is  one  which 
would  soon  settle  itself. 

Since  the  Colonial  Office  has  allowed  questions 
at  the  Cape  to  be  settled  by  the  Cape  Parliament, 
not  only  has  the  attachment  to  the  Imperial  tie 
been  immeasurably  strengthened,  but  the  Dutch, 
who  form  the  majority  of  the  population,  have 
shown  a  greatly  increased  consideration  for  the 
sentiments  of  the  English  members  of  the 
community. 

It  seems  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  in 
an  Irish  Parliament  similar  consideration  would 
be  given  to  the  sentiments  of  that  portion  of  the 
inhabitants  which  is  at  present  out  of  sympathy 
with  the  national  movement. 

I  will  frankly  add  that  my  interest  in  the  Irish 


Dr.  Jameson  and  Mr.  Boyd. 


124  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

question  has  been  heightened  by  the  fact  that  in 
it  I  see  the  possibility  of  the  commencement  of 
changes  which  will  eventually  mould  and  weld 
together  all  parts  of  the  British  Empire. 

The  English  are  a  conservative  people,  and 
like  to  move  slowly,  and  as  it  were  experimentally. 
At  present  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  time  of 
Parliament  is  overcrowded  with  the  discussion  of 
trivial  and  local  affairs.  Imperial  matters  have 
to  stand  their  chance  of  a  hearing  alongside  of 
railway  and  tram  bills.  Evidently  it  must  be  a 
function  of  modern  legislation  to  delegate  an 
enormous  number  of  questions  which  now  occupy 
the  time  of  Parliament,  to  District  Councils  or 
local  bodies. 

Mr.  Chamberlain  recognised  this  fact  in  his 
Radical  programme  of  1885,  and  the  need  daily 
grows  more  urgent.  Now  the  removal  of  Irish 
affairs  to  an  Irish  Legislature  [Council]  would  be 
a  practical  experimental  step  in  the  direction  of 
lessening  the  burden  upon  the  central  deliberative 
and  legislative  machine. 

But  side  by  side  with  the  tendency  of 
decentralisation  for  local  affairs,  there  is  growing 
up  a  feeling  for  the  necessity  of  greater  union  in 
Imperial  matters.  The  primary  tie  which  binds 
our  Empire  together  is  the  national  one  of  self- 
defence.  The  Colonies  are  already  commencing 
to  co-operate  with  and  contribute  to  the  mother 
country  for  this  purpose. 

But  if  they  are  to  contribute  permanently  and 
beneficially  they  will  have  to  be  represented  in 
the  Imperial  Parliament,  where  the  distribution 
of  their  contributions  must  be  decided  upon. 

I  do  not  think  that  it  can  be  denied  that  the 
presence  of  two  or  three  Australian  members  in 
the  House  would  in  recent  years  have  prevented 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE.  125 

much  misunderstanding  upon  such  questions  as 
the  New  Hebrides,  New  Guinea,  and  Chinese 
immigration.  Now  an  \reduced~\  Irish  representa- 
tion at  Westminster  (with  numbers  proportionate 
to  Ireland's  Imperial  contribution}  would,  without 
making  any  vital  change  in  the  English  Constitu- 
tion, furnish  a  precedent  by  which  the  self- 
governing  Colonies  could  from  time  to  time,  as 
they  expressed  a  desire  to  contribute  to  Imperial 
expenditure,  be  incorporated  with  the  Imperial 
Legislature.  You  will  perhaps  say  that  I  am 
making  the  Irish  question  a  stalking-horse  for  a 
scheme  of  Imperial  Federation  ;  but  if  so,  I  am  at 
least  placing  Ireland  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle. 

The  question  is,  moreover,  one  in  which  I 
take  a  deep  interest,  and  I  shall  be  obliged  if 
you  can  tell  [assure]  me  that  Mr.  MacNeill  is 
not  mistaken  in  the  impression  he  conveyed  to 
me,  and  that  you  and  your  Party  would  be 
prepared  to  give  your  hearty  support  and 
approval  to  a  Home  Rule  Bill  containing 
provisions  for  the  continuance  of  Irish  repre- 
sentation at  Westminster.  Such  a  declaration 
would  afford  great  satisfaction  to  myself  and 
others,  and  would  enable  us  to  give  our  full  and 
active  support  to  your  cause  and  your  Party. 

/  shall  be  happy  to  contribute  to  the  ftuids  of 
the  Party  to  the  extent  of  ^10,000.  /  am  also, 
under  the  cimunstances,  authorised  to  offer  you 
a  further  sum  of  ,£1,000  from  Mr.  John 
Morrogh,  an  Irish  resident  at  Kimberley,  South 
Africa. — Yours  faithfully,  C.  J.  RHODES. 

NOTE. — Tlie  portions  of  this  letter  printed  in  italics  are  the 
omissions  made  by  Par nell  from  the  original  draft  submitted 
to  him.  The  word  "  Council"  on  page  124,  in  brackets,  and  the 
word  "assure"  on  page  125,  ///  bracket 's,  were  omitted  in  favour 
of  mere  verbal  alterations. 


126  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

To  this  Mr.  Parnell  replied  as  follows  :— 

House  of  Commons, 

June  23,  '88. 

Dear  Sir, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letter  of  the 
2oth  inst,  which  confirms  the  very  interesting  account  given 
me  at  Avondale  last  January  by  Mr.  Swift  MacNeill  as  to  his 
interviews  and  conversations  with  you  on  the  subject  of  Home 
Rule  for  Ireland. 

I  may  say  at  once  and  frankly  that  I  think  you  have 
•correctly  judged  the  exclusion  of  the  Irish  members  from 
Westminster  to  have  been  a  defect  in  the  Home  Rule  measure 
of  1886,  and  further,  that  this  proposed  exclusion  may  have 
given  some  colour  to  the  accusations  so  freely  made  against 
the  Bill,  that  it  had  a  separatist  tendency.  I  say  this  while 
strongly  asserting  and  believing  that  the  measure  itself  was 
accepted  by  the  Irish  people  without  any  afterthought  of  the 
kind,  and  with  an  earnest  desire  to  work  it  out  in  the  same 
spirit  in  which  it  was  offered,  a  spirit  of  cordial  goodwill  and 
trust,  a  desire  to  let  bygones  be  bygones,  and  a  determination 
to  accept  it  as  a  final  and  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  long- 
standing dispute  and  trouble  between  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

I  am  very  glad  to  find  that  you  consider  the  measure  of 
Home  Rule  to  be  granted  to  Ireland  should  be  thoroughgoing, 
and  should  give  her  complete  control  over  her  own  affairs 
Avithout  reservation,  and  I  cordially  agree  with  your  opinion 
that  there  should  be  at  the  same  time  effective  safeguards  for 
the  maintenance  of  Imperial  unity.  Your  conclusion  as  to  the 
only  alternative  for  Home  Rule  is  also  entirely  my  own,  for  I 
have  long  felt  that  the  continuance  of  the  present  semi- 
•constitutional  system  is  quite  impracticable. 

But  to  return  to  the  question  of  the  retention  of  the  Irish 
members  at  Westminster,  my  own  views  upon  the  point,  the 
probabilities  of  the  future,  and  the  bearing  of  this  subject  upon 
the  question  of  Imperial  Federation.  My  own  feeling  upon 
the  matter  is,  that  if  Mr.  Gladstone  includes  in  his  next  Home 
Rule  measure  provisions  for  such  retention,  we  should  cheer- 
fully concur  in  them,  and  accept  them  with  good  will  and  good 
faith,  with  the  intention  of  taking  our  share  in  the  Imperial 


127 


Photograph  l>yt 


[E.  H.  Mills. 


Sir  Harry  Johnston. 


128  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

partnership.  I  believe  also  that  in  the  event  stated  this  will 
be  the  case,  and  that  the  Irish  people  will  cheerfully  accept 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  assigned  to  them,  and  will  justly 
value  the  position  given  them  in  the  Imperial  system. 

I  am  convinced  that  it  would  be  the  highest  statesmanship 
on  Mr.  Gladstone's  part,  to  devise  a  feasible  plan  for  the  con- 
tinued presence  of  the  Irish  members  here,  and  from  my  obser- 
vation of  public  events  and  opinion  since  1885,  I  am  sure  that 
Mr.  Gladstone  is  fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  matter, 
and  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  next  measure  of 
autonomy  for  Ireland  will  contain  the  provisions  which  you 
rightly  deem  of  such  moment.  It  does  not  come  so  much 
within  my  province  to  express  a  full  opinion  upon  the  question 
of  Imperial  Federation,  but  I  quite  agree  with  you  that  the 
continued  Irish  representation  at  Westminster  will  immensely 
facilitate  such  a  step,  while  the  contrary  provision  in  the  Bill 
of '86  would  have  been  a  bar.  Undoubtedly  this  is  a  matter 
which  should  be  dealt  with  in  accordance  with  the  opinion  of 
the  Colonies  themselves,  and  if  they  should  desire  to  share  in 
the  cost  of  Imperial  matters,  as  certainly  they  now  do  in  the 
responsibility,  and  should  express  a  wish  for  representation  at 
Westminster,  I  quite  think  it  should  be  accorded  to  them,  and 
that  public  opinion  in  these  islands  would  unanimously  concur 
in  the  necessary  constitutional  modifications. — I  am,  dear  sir, 
yours  truly,  CHARLES  STEWART  PARNELL. 

C.  J.  Rhodes,  Esq. 

Mr.  Rhodes  confirmed  the  bargain  by  the  following 
letter:— 

Westminster  Palace  Hotel,   London. 

June  24,  1888. 

Dear  Mr.  Parnell, — I  have  to  thank  you  for 
your  letter  of  the  23rd  inst.,  the  contents  of  which 
have  given  me  great  pleasure. 

I  feel  sure  that  your  cordial  approval  of  the 
retention  of  Irish  representation  at  Westminster 
will  gain  you  support  in  many  quarters  from 
which  it  has  hitherto  been  withheld. 

As  a  proof  of  my  deep  and  sincere  interest  in 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE.  129 

the  question,  and  as  I  believe  that  the  action  of 
the  Irish  party  on  the  basis  which  you  have 
stated  will  lead,  not  to  disintegration,  but  really 
to  a  closer  union  of  the  Empire,  making  it  an 
Empire  in  reality,  and  not  in  name  only,  I  am 
happy  to  offer  a  contribution  to  the  extent  of 
j£  10,000  to  the  funds  of  your  party.  I  am  also 
authorised  to  offer  you  a  further  sum  of  ;£i,ooo 
from  Mr.  John  Morrogh,  an  Irish  resident  in 
Kimberley,  South  Africa. — Believe  me,  yours 
faithfully,  C.  J.  RHODES. 

P.S. — I  herewith  enclose  a  cheque  for  ,£5,000 
as  my  first  instalment. 

A  year  after  this,  Mr.  Parnell  went  down  to  Hawarden  to 
settle  the  details  of  the  next  Home  Rule  Bill  with  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. In  the  beginning  of  1890  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Rhodes  to 
say  that  the  retention  of  the  Irish  Members  at  Westminster 
had  been  agreed  upon,  but  that  Mr.  Gladstone  insisted  on 
reducing  the  representation  in  order  to  conciliate  English 
public  opinion.  Mr.  Rhodes,  characteristically  enough,  had 
lost  Mr.  Parnell's  letter,  and  the  evidence  as  to  its  contents  is 
a  report  of  Mr.  Parnell's  speech  in  1891. 

When  the  unfortunate  breach  between  Mr.  Pamell  and  the 
majority  of  the  Irish  Party  took  place  at  the  beginning  of  1891, 
Mr.  Parneil  so  far  forgot  the  roU  which  he  had  marked  out  for 
himself  as  to  address  to  a  meeting  at  Navan  a  declaration  that 
u  some  day  or  other,  in  the  long-distant  future,  someone  might 
arise  who  may  have  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  as  men  of 
Republican  Meath."  Mr.  Rhodes,  on  seeing  a  report  of  this 
speech,  at  once  wrote  to  expostulate  with  Mr.  Parnell,  pointing 
out  how  inconsistent  was  this  declaration  about  Republican 
Meath  with  the  loyal  maintenance  of  Imperial  unity  on  a  federal 
basis.  Instead  of  resenting  being  thus  recalled  to  the  letter  of 
his  contract,  Mr.  Parnell  wrote  promptly  and  admitted  his  mis- 
take. He  said  he  regretted  the  words  he  had  used  ;  he  had 
gone  further  than  he  intended,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
words  in  question  were  contradicted  by  other  passages  of  the 
same  speech,  as,  for  example,  when  he  said  :  4<  We  are  willing 


i3o  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

to   show   that  the  existence  of  Irish  autonomy  is  compatible 
with  Imperial  prosperity  and  progress." 

Neither  Mr.  Rhodes's  letter  of  expostulation  nor  Mr. 
Parnell's  letter  of  explanation  and  apology  is  in  existence, 
Mr.  Parnell's  letter  having  been  burnt  in  the  fire  that  destroyed 
Groote  Schuur. 

The  Parnell  correspondence  proves  one  thing  conclusively, 
if  nothing  else — namely,  that  the  suspicion  and  distrust  excited 
by  Mr.  Rhodes'  contribution  to  the  Irish  National  Fund  was 
absolutely  without  justification.  Nothing  could  have  been 
straighter  and  more  above-board  than  the  bargain  between  the 
two  men,  and  the  aim  and  object  of  that  deal  was  not,  as 
Mr.  Rhodes's  assailants  pretended  and  still  pretend,  to  assist 
in  a  separatist  movement  intended  to  break  up  the  Empire  ; 
its  aim  was  exactly  the  reverse — namely,  to  confine  the  move- 
ment for  local  self-government  in  Ireland  within  the  limits  of  a 
federal  system,  and  make  it  the  stepping-stone  to  that  federa- 
tion which  is  the  condition  of  the  continued  existence  of  our 
Empire. 

Mr.  Rhodes's  second  contribution  to  British  political  funds 
took  place  three  years  after  the  subscription  to  Mr.  Parnell. 
The  correspondence  which  took  place  in  1891  did  not  appear 
till  1901,  when  it  was  extracted  from  Mr.  Rhodes  by  the  extra- 
ordinary blunder  of  the  editor  of  the  Spectator,  who,  hearing 
from  a  correspondent  signing  himself  "  C.  B."  that  Mr.  Rhodes 
had  given  Mr.  Schnadhorst  a  contribution  to  the  funds  of  the 
Liberal  Party,  on  condition  that  its  leaders  should  not  urge  or 
support  our  retrogression  from  Egypt,  jumped  to  the  remark- 
able conclusion  that  this  fact  explained  the  greatest  of  all 
mysteries  in  regard  to  Mr.  Rhodes,  the  mystery  why  the 
Liberals  on  the  South  African  Committee  allowed  him  to  get 
off  so  very  easily.  The  absurdity  of  this  is  apparent  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  Mr.  Rhodes  but  Mr.  Chamberlain  who  was 
let  off  easily  by  the  South  African  Committee,  and  that  the 
Liberals  assented  to  the  whitewashing  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  on 
condition  that  they  might  be  allowed  to  pronounce  sentence 
of  major  excommunication  upon  Mr.  Rhodes.  Nevertheless, 
the  Spectator,  floundering  still  more  hopelessly  into  the 
morass,  declared  that  if  the  transactions  recorded  were 
correct,  the  Liberal  leaders  were  at  the  mercy  of  Mr.  Rhodes. 


HIS   CORRESPONDENCE.  \^i 

To  this  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Baunerman  replied  bluntly  by 
declaring  that  the  story  was  from  beginning  to  end  a  lie. 
Mr.  Rhodes  then  wrote  a  letter  which  appeared  in  the 
Spectator  of  October  12,  1901  : — 

Sir, — I  have  been  appealed  to  upon  the 
controversy  that  has  arisen  in  your  paper 
between  a  correspondent  signing  himself  "  C.  B.'r 
and  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman.  I  may 
say  that  the  letter  of  "C.  B."  was  written  without 
my  knowledge  or  approval,  still,  as  his  statement 
has  been  characterised  as  "a  lie,"  it  is  my  duty 
to  send  you  the  facts. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Schnadhorst 
when  he  was  visiting  the  Cape  for  his  health 
early  in  1890.  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  him  in 
Kimberley,  and  found  that  his  political  thoughts 
were  in  the  direction  of  what  would  now  be 
called  Liberal  Imperialism  ;  and  his  views  as  to 
Empire  were  no  doubt  enormously  strengthened 
by  his  visit  to  Africa. 

I  told  him  that  my  ideas  were  Liberalism////^ 
Empire,  and  I  added  that  I  thought  the  Liberal 
party  was  ruining  itself  by  its  Little  England 
policy,  my  thoughts  being  then  on  the  point  of 
their  desire  to  scuttle  out  of  Egypt. 

I  subsequently  met  Mr.  Schnadhorst  in 
London,  and  he  asked  me  whether  I  would  be 
willing  to  subscribe  to  the  party  funds.  I  said  I 
was  prepared  to  do  so  provided  that  the  policy 
was  not  to  scuttle  out  of  Egypt,  and  that  in  the 
event  of  a  Home  Rule  Bill  being  brought  forward 
provision  should  be  made  for  the  retention  of 
Irish  Members  at  Westminster,  as  I  considered 
the  first  Home  Rule  Bill  of  Mr.  Gladstone's 
simply  placed  Ireland  in  a  subject  position,  taxed 
for  our  Imperial  purposes  without  a  voice  in  the 
expenditure ;  and  it  was  hopeless  ever  to  expect 


132  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

closer  union  with  the  Colonies  if  a  portion  of  the 
Empire  so  close  as  Ireland  had  been  turned  into 
a  tributary  State. 

It  is  ridiculous  to  suppose,  as  I  have  seen  it 
stated,  that  I  thought  I  should  purchase  the 
Liberal  policy  for  the  sum  of  ,£5,000  or  any 
other  sum,  and  any  Liberal  making  such  a 
suggestion  only  insults  his  own  party ;  but  I 
naturally  did  not  want  to  help  a  party  into 
power  whose  first  act  would  be  what  I  most 
objected  to  —  namely,  the  abandonment  of 
Egypt. 

I  understood  from  Mr.  Schnadhorst  that  he 
would  consult  Mr.  Gladstone,  which  quite  satis- 
fied me,  as  I  looked  upon  Mr.  Gladstone  as  the 
Liberal  party.  Mr.  Schnadhorst  accepted  ,£5,000 
from  myself  for  party  purposes,  coupled  with  the 
conditions  defined  in  letter  marked  "A." 

Some  time  after  I  read  a  speech  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's at  Newcastle — I  think  it  was  at  the  end 
of  1891 — in  which  he  expressed  the  hope  that 
Lord  Salisbury  would  take  some  step  "to  relieve 
us  from  the  burdensome  and  embarrassing  occupa- 
tion of  Egypt."  This  naturally  surprised  me 
after  what  had  passed  between  Mr.  Schnadhorst 
and  myself,  and  I  therefore  wrote  to  him  letter 
"  B,"  and  received  in  reply  letter  "  C."  (You 
will  notice  that  in  this  letter,  referring  to  my 
subscription,  I  say :— "  As  you  are  aware,  the 
question  of  Egypt  was  the  only  condition  I 
made."  I  was  only  writing  at  sea  from  memory, 
but  I  knew  the  fear  of  losing  Egypt,  to  which  I 
referred  in  the  postscript  to  my  letter  addressed 
to  Mr.  Schnadhorst  marked  "A,"  had  been  the 
paramount  thought  in  my  mind.)  I  took  no  more 
trouble  in  the  matter,  as  soon  after  I  arrived 
in  Africa  Lord  Rosebery  joined  the  Ministry 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE.  133 

Mr.    Gladstone  was    forming,    and    I    knew   that 
Egypt  was  saved 

The  correspondence  speaks  for  itself,  and  I 
leave  your  readers  to  decide  how  far  Sir  Henry 
Campbell- Bannerman  was  justified  in  character- 
ising the  statement  of  "  C.  B."  as  being  "from 
beginning  to  end  a  lie." 

According  to  their  statement,  neither  Sir 
Henry  Campbell-Bannerman  nor  Sir  William 
Harcourt  was  acquainted  with  the  facts  ;  but  I 
naturally  assumed  Mr.  Schnadhorst  to  be  speak- 
ing with  authority. — I  am,  sir,  etc., 

C.  J.   RHODES. 


[A.] 

Monday,  February  23,  1891. 

My  dear  Schnadhorst,— I  enclose  you  a 
cheque  for  ,£  5,000,  and  I  hope  you  will,  with 
the  extreme  caution  that  is  necessary,  help  in 
guiding  your  party  to  consider  politics  other  than 
England. 

I  do  not  think  your  visit  to  Kimberley  did 
you  harm,  either  physically  or  politically,  and  I 
.am  glad  to  send  you  the  contribution  I  promised. 
The  future  of  England  must  be  Liberal,  perhaps, 
to  fight  Socialism.  I  make  but  two  conditions  ; 
please  honourably  observe  them  —  (i)  that  my 
contribution  is  secret  (if,  of  course,  you  feel  in 
honour  bound  to  tell  Mr.  Gladstone,  you  can  do 
so,  but  no  one  else,  and  he  must  treat  it  as 
confidential)  ;  (2)  if  the  exigencies  of  party 
necessitate  a  Home  Rule  Bill  without  represen- 
tation at  Westminster,  your  Association  must 
return  my  cheque. — Yours, 

(Signed)     C.  J.   RHODES. 

P.S. — I  am  horrified  by  Morley's  speech  on 


134  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS   IDEAS. 

Egypt.  If  you  think  your  party  hopeless  keep 
the  money,  but  give  it  to  some  chanty  you 
approve  of.  It  would  be  an  awful  thing  to  give 
my  money  to  breaking  up  the  Empire. 

[B.] 
On  board  the  Dunottar,  April  25,  1892. 

My  dear  Schnadhorst, — I  am  sorry  to  have 
missed  you,  but  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  so 
much  better,  though  it  robs  one  of  the  chance  of 
seeing  you  again  in  South  Africa. 

I  gather  in  England  that  your  party  is  almost 
certain  to  come  in,  though  there  may  be  subse- 
quent difficulty  as  to  the  shape  of  the  Home  Rule 
Bill. 

The  matter  that  is  troubling  me  most  is  your 
policy  as  to  Egypt.  I  was  horrified  when  I 
returned  from  Mashonaland  to  read  a  speech  of 
Mr.  Gladstone's  evidently  foreshadowing  a  scuttle 
if  he  came  in.  I  could  hardly  believe  it  to  be 
true,  and  sat  down  to  write  to  you,  but  thought 
it  better  to  wait  and  see  you.  I  have  now 
missed  you,  so  must  trust  to  writing.  I  do 
hope  you  will  do  your  best  to  check  him  from 
the  mad  step,  which  must  bring  ruin  and 
misery  on  the  whole  of  Egypt,  whilst  our 
retirement  will  undoubtedly  bring  it  under  the 
influence  of  one  or  other  of  the  foreign  Powers, 
which  of  course  by  reciprocal  treaties  will 
eventually  manage  the  exclusion  of  our  trade. 
However,  if  your  respected  leader  remains 
obdurate  when  he  comes  into  power,  and  adopts 
this  policy  of  scuttle,  I  shall  certainly  call  upon 
you  to  devote  my  subscription  to  some  public 
charity  in  terms  of  my  letter  to  you,  as  I  certainly, 
though  a  Liberal,  did  not  subscribe  to  your  party 
to  assist  in  the  one  thing  that  I  hate  above 


HIS  CORRESPONDENCE.  135 

everything,  namely,  the  policy  of  disentegrating 
and  breaking  up  our  Empire. 

As  you  are  aware,  the  question  of  Egypt  was 
the  only  condition  I  made,  and  it  seems  rather 
extraordinary  to  me  that  the  first  public  speech 
your  leader  should  make — which  sketches  gener- 
ally his  views  upon  the  near  approach  of  office- 
should  declare  a  policy  of  abandonment. 

I  asked  you  at  the  time  I  wrote  to  see  him 
and  tell  him  of  my  action,  and  I  suppose  you 
must  have  mentioned  the  Egyptian  question, 
which  was  really  all  I  cared  about. 

We  are  now  one-third  of  the  way  with  a 
telegraph  through  the  continent  from  the  South, 
only  to  hear  of  your  policy  of  scuttle  from  the 
North.  (Signed)  C.  J.  RHODES. 

P.S. — I  have  to  send  this  to  be  posted  in 
England,  as  I  have  forgotten  your  direction. 

The  postscript  explains  how  it  was  that  this  letter  came  into 
my  possession.  It  was  sent  to  me  to  be  copied,  and  forwarded 
to  Mr.  Schnadhorst.  In  reporting  the  receipt  of  the  letter  to 
Mr.  Rhodes  I  wrote  as  follows  : — 

"May  i6th,  1892. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Rhodes, — Received  your  letter  for  Schnadhorst, 
and  duly  forwarded  it  to  him.  I  think  the  fault  lies  with 
Mr.  Schnadhorst,  not  with  Mr.  Gladstone.  I  was  writing  to 
Mr.  Gladstone  about  something  else,  and  incidentally  mentioned 
that  you  were  very  indignant  with  several  speeches  about  Egypt, 
whereupon  Mr.  Gladstone  wrote  asking  what  were  those  speeches 
to  which  Mr.  Rhodes  took  exception,  as  he  had  not  the  plea- 
sure of  knowing  what  Mr.  Rhodes's  views  were  concerning 
Egypt.  From  this  I  infer  that  Mr.  Schnadhorst  has  never 
informed  Mr.  Gladstone  of  anything  that  you  said  to  him,  in 
which  case  he  deserves  the  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  he  will 
have  after  receiving  your  letter.  I  saw  Mr.  Balfour  the  other 
day,  who  said  he  did  not  think  the  difficulty  was  with  Mr. 
Gladstone,  but  rather  with  Sir  William  Harcourt,  who  believed 

K 


136  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

in  the  curtailment  of  the  British  Empire,  if  he  believed  in 
nothing  else.  Balfour  was  very  sorry  that  he  had  not  a  chance 
of  meeting  you  when  you  were  here,  as  he  had  looked  forward 
to  your  coming  in  the  hope  of  making  your  acquaintance. — 
I  am,  yours  very  truly,  "  (Signed)  W.  T.  STEAD." 

The  following  is  Mr.  Schnadhorst's  reply  : — 

[C] 

National  Liberal  Federation, 
42,  Parliament  Street,  S.W. 

June  4th,  1892. 

My  dear  Rhodes, — I  regret  very  much  I  did  not  see  you 
when  you  were  here,  as  your  letter  places  me  in  a  position  of 
extreme  perplexity.  Your  donation  was  given  with  two  con- 
ditions, both  of  which  will  be  observed,  but  in  a  postscript  you 
referred  to  John  Morley's  speech  on  Egypt  in  the  sense  in 
which  you  have  written  about  Mr.  Gladstone's  reference  to  the 
same  subject.  It  is  eighteen  months  ago  since  I  saw  you, 
when  you  referred  to  the  subject  in  conversation,  and  I  told 
you  then,  as  I  think  now,  that  J.  M.'s  speech  was  very  unwise, 
and  that  it  did  not  represent  the  policy  of  the  party.  The 
General  Election  has  been  coming  near,  and  is  now  close 
at  hand.  Your  gift  was  intended  to  help  in  the  Home  Rule 
struggle.  It  could  do  so  only  by  being  used  before  the 
election.  Being  satisfied  that  I  could  observe  your  con- 
ditions, and  that  J.  M.'s  speech  was  simply  the  expression 
of  an  individual  opinion,  I  felt  at  liberty  to  pledge 
your  funds  for  various  purposes  in  connection  with  the 
election.  This  was  done  to  a  large  extent  before  Mr.  G. 
spoke  at  Newcastle.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  in  my  view  his 
reference  to  Egypt  was  no  more  than  an  expression  of  a  pious 
opinion.  It  did  not  alter  my  feelings  that  a  Liberal  Govern- 
ment would  not  attempt  withdrawal.  Sir  W.  Harcourt  was 
annoyed  at  Mr.  G.'s  reference  at  the  time,  and  since  I  heard 
from  you  I  have  seen  Lord  Rosebery,  who  will  become  Foreign 
Minister,  and  who  I  am  satisfied  from  what  he  said  to  me  would 
not  sanction  such  a  policy.  Mr.  Gladstone,  I  expect,  had  been 
worked  on  by  a  few  individuals,  possibly  by  J.  M.  alone ;  but 
in  my  opinion  it  would  be  simply  madness  for  him  to  add  to 


HIS    CORRESPONDENCE.  137 

the  enormous  difficulties  with  which  he  will  have  to  deal  by 
risking  complications  on  such  a  subject.  There  is  no  danger  ; 
besides,  the  next  Liberal  Foreign  Secretary  will  be  a  strong 
man  who  will  take  his  own  course,  very  different  from  the  pliant 
and  supple  Granville.  Of  course,  I  may  be  wrong;  time 
alone  can  show;  but  if  I  waited  for  that  the  purpose  for 
which  I  asked  your  help,  and  for  which  you  gave  it,  would  go 
unaided. 

You  will  see  what  a  precious  fix  you  have  put  me  in.  I 
will  not  make  any  further  promises  until  I  hear  from  you. — 
With  all  good  wishes,  I  am,  faithfully  yours, 

"(Signed)        F.  SCHNADHORST." 

It  would  seem  from  this  correspondence  that  there  is  not  a 
shadow  or  tittle  of  reason  for  attributing  to  Mr.  Rhodes  or  to 
the  Liberal  leaders  any  corrupt  contract,  much  less  that  there 
was  any  subscription  to  the  party  fund  which  would  justify  the 
monstrous  assertion  of  the  Spectator  that  the  acceptance  of  this 
subscription,  of  the  existence  of  which  probably  Mr.  Gladstone 
was  unaware,  in  any  way  influenced  either  the  policy  of  the 
Government  about  Egypt  or  the  action  of  the  Liberal  leaders 
on  the  South  African  Committee. 

The  attempt  that  was  made  in  some  quarters  to  represent 
Mr.  Rhodes  as  dictating  the  policy  of  the  Imperial  Government 
by  a  subscription  of  ^5,000  to  an  election  fund  is  too  puerile 
to  be  discussed.  All  that  Mr.  Rhodes  did  was  to  take  the 
course  which  is  almost  invariably  taken  by  any  person  who 
is  asked  to  subscribe  to  a  campaign  fund.  There  is  hardly 
anything  subscribed  to  the  election  expenses  of  a  candidate  on 
either  side  which  is  not  accompanied  by  a  publicly  and  privately 
expressed  opinion  as  to  the  political  cause  which  it  is  hoped  the 
candidate  will  support.  Subscriptions  are  constantly  given  or 
refused  every  year  because  the  donor  agrees  with  or  dissents 
from  some  particular  article  in  the  programme  of  the  candidate 
he  is  asked  to  support.  It  is  a  curious  thing  that  a  great 
part  of  the  outcry  against  Mr.  Rhodes's  subscription  to  the 
Liberal  Party  arises  from  those  who,  when  Mr.  Gladstone  went 
off  to  the  Home  Rule  cause,  transferred  their  subscriptions 
from  the  Liberal  to  the  Unionist  exchequer.  The  use  of 
electoral  subscriptions  as  a  means  of  promoting  political  ideas 

K  2 


138 


POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 


may  be  as  objectionable  as  some  critics  maintain,  but  it  does 
not  lie  in  the  mouths  of  those  who  remorselessly  used  the 
advantages  of  superior  wealth  in  order  to  penalise  the  adoption 
of  a  policy  of  justice  to  Ireland,  to  throw  stones  at  Mr.  Rhodes. 
Mr.  Rhodes  in  1885  wrote  a  letter  of  such  phenomenal 
length  that  it  filled  a  whole  sheet  of  the  Times,  but  as  it  related 
chiefly  to  the  controversy  as  to  the  best  way  of  administering 
Bechuanaland,  and  was  the  product  of  the  combined  wits  of 
Mr.  Maguire  and  himself,  it  is  not  necessary  to  quote  it 
here. 


A  Portrait  of  Mr.  Rhodes  taken  in  the  Matoppos,  1899. 


139 


CHAPTER   IV.— HIS  SPEECHES. 

MR.  RHODES'S  speeches  between  1881  and  1899  were  col- 
lected and  published  in  1900  (publishers,  Chapman  and  Hall). 
Whether  the  publication  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  speeches  will  tend 
to  vindicate  his  reputation — -as  the  publication  of  Oliver 
Cromwell's  speeches  tended  to  justify  the  favourable  verdict  of 
Mr.  Carlyle — remains  to  be  seen.  Here,  at  least,  we  have 
material  for  judgment.  In  this  book,  the  painstaking  research 
of  a  chronicler  who  preferred  to  veil  his  identity  behind  the 
pseudonym  of  "  Vindex,"  are  collected  all  the  public  speeches 
of  Mr.  Rhodes  which  have  ever  been  reported  since  he  entered 
public  life  in  the  Cape  in  1881,  down  to  his  famous  speech  at 
Kimberley  immediately  after  the  relief  of  the  beleaguered  city. 

These  speeches,  however,  we  are  given  to  understand, 
have  neither  been  bowdlerised  nor  edited,  excepting  so  far  as  is 
necessary  to  correct  the  somewhat  slipshod  grammar  of 
Colonial  reporters,  excusable  enough  when  grappling  with  the 
ill-hewn  sentences  of  a  man  who  thinks  as  he  is  speaking. 
Mr.  Rhodes,  however,  had  no  reason  to  fear  being  tried  by 
this  ordeal.  He  does  not  emerge  an  immaculate  saint,  carved 
in  the  whitest  of  Parian  marble.  He  is  revealed  not  as  an 
archangel  of  radiant  stainless  purity,  but  neither  was  he  a 
cloven-footed  devil.  Judging  him  by  his  stature  in  influence, 
in  authority  and  in  driving  force,  he  belonged  to  the  order  of 
archangels ;  but  he  was  a  grey  archangel,  with  a  crippled  wing, 
which  caused  him  to  pursue  a  somewhat  devious  course  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm-winds  of  race-passion  and  political  intrigue. 
A  grey  archangel  crossed  with  a  Jesuit,  who  was  so  devoted 
to  his  ends  that  almost  all  means  were  to  him  indifferent, 
excepting  in  so  far  as  they  helped  him  to  attain  his  goal — that 
is  the  man  who  is  revealed  to  us  in  these  speeches. 

Mr.  Rhodes  did  not  execute  so  many  curves  in  his  political 
career  as  did  Mr.  Gladstone.  His  course,  with  one  great  and 
lamentable  exception,  was  characterised  by  an  unswerving 
adhesion  to  one  political  line ;  but  throughout  the  whole  of  his 
life  there  was  manifest  the  same  steady  purpose,  to  which  he 


140  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

was  true  in  good  report  and  in  ill.  He  tacked  hither  and 
thither,  steering  now  to  the  north  and  now  to  the  south ;  but 
he  ever  kept  his  goal  in  view.  He  did  not  navigate  these 
crowded  sea,s  without  a  compass  and  chart.  Short-sighted 
mortals,  who  have  no  other  mete-wand  by  which  to  test  the 
consistency  of  statesmen  than  their  fidelity  to  the  ephemeral 
combinations  of  parties,  were  bewildered  and  declared  that  there 
was  no  knowing  what  this  man  was  after.  But  by  those  who 
watched  his  course  afar  off  it  was  seen  that  his  apparent 
divagations  from  the  direct  course  were  only  those  of  the 
mariner  whom  long  experience  has  taught  that  against  an 
adverse  wind  the  shortest  way  to  your  port  is  often  the  longest 
way  about.  Mr.  Rhodes  himself  always  maintained  to  those 
who  knew  him  intimately  and  who  could  enter  into  his  higher 
thoughts,  that  he  had  one  object — namely,  to  promote  by  all 
the  means  in  his  power  the  union,  the  development,  the 
extension  of  the  English-speaking  race.  Empire  with  Mr. 
Rhodes  meant  many  things,  chiefly  the  maintenance  of  the 
union  between  the  widely  scattered  communities  which  owe 
allegiance  to  the  British  Crown;  secondly,  the  established 
authority  of  this  race — peaceful,  industrious  and  free — over 
the  dark-skinned  myriads  of  Africa  and  Asia ;  thirdly,  the 
maintenance  of  an  open  door  for  the  products  of  British 
manufactures  to  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 

These  were  Mr.  Rhodes's  political  objects.  To  attain  these 
ends  he  devoted  his  life  and  dedicated  the  whole  of  his 
money,  the  acquisition  of  which  some  erroneously  imaginecf'to 
be  the  great  object  of  his  life.  To  achieve  these  ends  he 
worked  first  with  one  set  of  men  and  then  with  another ;  but 
on  the  whole  it  will  be  found  by  reference  to  the  speeches  that 
for  the  most  part  he  stood  in  with  the  Dutch. 

Without  further  preface  I  will  proceed  to  examine  the 
book,  and  quote  from  the  912  pages  of  the  speeches  here 
collected  some  short  and  pithy  extracts.  It  is  impossible  to 
read  Mr.  Rhodes's  speeches  without  feeling  that  "  Vindex " 
had  good  reason  for  the  faith  that  was  within  him.  I  always 
thought  a  great  deal  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  but  the  perusal  of  these 
speeches  led  me  to  feel  that  I  had  never  done  justice  to  many 
sides  of  his  singularly  attractive  character. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  fascination  which  he  undoubtedly 


141 


•*4LJ.  «ta 

Photograph  by  S.  B.  Barnard, \ 


A  Characteristic  Portrait. 


\Cape  Town* 


142  POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS   IDEAS. 

exercised  over  General  Gordon.  Everyone  knows  that  Gordon 
wished  Mr.  Rhodes  to  go  with  him  to  Khartoum  on  the  famous 
mission  which  had  so  tragic  a  termination,  but  I  was  not  aware 
until  I  found  it  in  this  book  how  insistent  Gordon  had  been  to 
secure  Mr.  Rhodes's  assistance  in  tne  pacification  of  Basutoland. 

It  was  in  the  year  1882  that  Gordon  and  Rhodes  met. 
"  Vindex"  says  that  they  were  both  deeply  interested  in  the 
Basuto  question.  They  used  to  take  long  walks  together  and 
discuss  Imperial  and  other  questions,  with  the  result  of  vigorous 
argument  between  them.  They  became  such  close  friends 
that  when  Rhodes  was  starting  for  Kimberley,  Gordon  pressed 
him  hard  to  stay  and  work  with  him  in  Basutoland.  Rhodes 
refused  on  the  ground  that  he  had  already  mapped  out  his  life's 
work,  which  lay  elsewhere.  Gordon  would  take  no  denial  for 
a  long  time,  and  when  forced  to  give  in  at  last,  said,  "  There 
are  very  few  men  in  the  world  to  whom  I  would  make  such 
an  offer,  but  of  course  you  will  have  your  own  way."  "  You 
always  contradict  me,"  Gordon  said  to  Rhodes,  "  you  always 
think  you  are  right  and  every  one  else  wrong,"  a  formula 
which  Rhodes,  no  doubt,  would  have  applied  with  equal  justice 
to  Gordon  himself.  The  closeness  of  the  tie  which  bound 
together  the  two  men  was  natural  enough.  Both  were  idealists 
whose  thoughts  ran  on  the  same  lines  in  many  things,  the  chief 
difference  being  not  as  to  aims  but  as  to  the  practical  methods 
for  realising  them.  This  is  well  illustrated  by*Rhodes's  well- 
known  observation  when  Gordon  told  him  that  he  had  refused 
a  roomful  of  gold  offered  him  by  the  Chinese  Government  as  a 
reward  for  suppressing  the  Taeping  rebellion.  "  I  would  have 
taken  it,"  said  Rhodes,  "  and  as  many  roomfuls  as  they  would 
have  given  me.  It  is  of  no  use  to  have  big  ideas  if  you  have 
not  the  cash  to  carry  them  out." 

That  Rhodes  had  big  ideas  no  person  who  reads  this  col 
lection  of  speeches  will  doubt.  One  of  the  earliest  speeches  in 
"  Vindex's "  collection  was  that  which  he  delivered  in  July, 
1883,  on  the  Basutoland  Annexation  Bill.  It  was  a  veritable 
Confession  of  Faith,  the  declaration  of  political  convictions 
from  which  Mr.  Rhodes  never  varied. 

"  I   have  my  own  views  as   to  the  future  of 
South  Africa,  and  I  believe  in  an  United  States 


HIS  SPEECHES.  143 

of  South  Africa,  but  as  a  portion  of  the  British 
Empire.  I  believe  that  confederated  states  in  a 
colony  under  responsible  government  would  each 
be  practically  an  independent  republic  ;  but  I 
think  we  should  have  all  the  privileges  of  the  tie 
with  the  Empire.  Possibly  there  is  not  a  very 
great  divergence  between  myself  and  the  honour- 
able member  for  Stellenbosch,  excepting  always 
the  question  of  the  flag." 

The  honourable  member  for  Stellenbosch  was  Mr.  Hofmeyr, 
who  was  reported  to  have  said  that  he  was  in  favour  of  the 
United  States  of  South  Africa  under  its  own  flag. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  see  this  difference  on  the  flag  crop- 
ping up  as  long  ago  as  1 883.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  always  a  fanatic 
on  the  subject  of  the  British  flag.  Speaking  at  Bloemfontein 
in  1890,  Mr.  Rhodes  is  reported  as  having  said  that  he  felt 
admiration  for  the  sentiment  regarding  the  possession  of  a 
national  flag,  and  he  looked  forward  to  equitable  understandings 
which,  while  not  sacrificing  sentiment,  would  bring  about  a 
practical  union  in  South  Africa.  What  he  meant  by  this  is 
quite  clear,  and  would  have  been  clearer  had  "  Vindex " 
reported  his  speech  in  full.  Mr.  Rhodes  was  in  favour  of 
allowing  the  republics  to  retain  their  own  flags  when  they  came 
into  the  Confederation,  and  he  angrily  reproved  those  who 
wished  to  take  away  the  republican  flags  from  South  Africa. 
Devotion  to  his  own  flag  enabled  him  to  sympathise  with  the 
sentiment  of  the  Dutch.  At  Kimberley,  in  1890,  he  said  that 
he  deprecated  any  attempt  to  force  a  union  of  South  Africa 
under  the  same  flag.  He  said  : — - 

"  I  know  myself  that  I  am  not  prepared  to 
forfeit  at  any  time  my  own  flag.  I  repeat  I  am 
not  prepared  at  any  time  to  forfeit  my  own  flag. 
If  I  forfeit  my  flag  what  have  I  left  ?  If  you  take 
away  my  flag  you  take  away  everything.  Holding 
this  view  I  cannot  but  feel  the  same  respect  for 
the  neighbouring  states  where  men  have  been 
born  under  republican  institutions  and  with 
republican  feelings." 


144  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

Therein  Mr.  Rhodes  laid  his  finger  upon  the  great  secret  of 
his  success — that  which  differentiated  him  from  the  ruck  of  the 
people  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  He  had  not  only 
imagination,  but  he  had  sympathy. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  speeches  so  instinct  with 
the  spirit  of  true  Colonial  self-government,  and  the  assertion  of 
the  fundamental  principles  which  military  Imperialism  tramples 
under  foot,  than  those  which  meet  us  on  almost  every  page  of 
this  book.  One  of  the  best  speeches  which  Mr.  Rhodes  ever 
delivered  was  that  which  he  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the 
Afrikander  Bond  in  1891.  We  are  told  constantly  that  the 
Afrikander  Bond  is  a  treasonable  association. 

But  in  1891  Mr.  Rhodes  stood  up  to  propose  the  toast  of 
the  Afrikander  Bond.  He  had  just  returned  from  England, 
where  he  had  received,  as  he  said,  "  the  highest  consideration 
from  the  politicians  of  England,"  and  Her  Majesty  had  invited 
him  to  dine  with  her.  Fresh  from  these  tokens  of  confidence 
at  Downing  Street  and  at  Windsor,  he  hastened  to  Africa  to 
propose  the  toast  of  the  Afrikander  Bond,  and  to  declare 
that  he 

"felt  most  completely  and  entirely  that  the  object 
and  aspirations  of  the  Afrikander  Bond  were  in 
complete  touch  and  concert  with  a  fervent  loyalty 
to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen."  "  I  come  here," 
said  Mr.  Rhodes,  "  because  I  wish  to  show  that 
there  is  no  antagonism  between  the  aspirations 
of  the  people  of  this  country  and  of  their  kindred 
in  the  mother  country.  But,"  Mr.  Rhodes  added 
significantly,  "  provided  always  that  the  Old 
Country  recognises  that  the  whole  idea  of  the 
colonies  and  of  the  colonial  people  is  that  the 
principle  of  self-government  must  be  preserved  to 
the  full,  and  that  the  capacity  of  the  colony  must 
be  admitted  to  deal  with  every  internal  matter 
that  may  arise  in  this  country.  The  principle 
must  be  recognised  in  the  Old  Country  that  the 
people  born  and  bred  in  this  colony,  and  descended 
from  those  who  existed  in  this  country  many 


HIS  SPEECHES.  145 

generations  ago,  are  much  better  capable  of 
dealing  with  the  various  matters  that  arise  than 
people  who  have  to  dictate  some  thousands  of 
miles  away.  Now  that  is  the  people  of  the 
Afrikander  Bond.  I  look  upon  that  party  as 
representing  the  people  of  that  country."  He 
declared  that  "  the  future  rested  with  the 
Afrikander  Bond.  Your  ideas  are  the  same  as 
mine." 

While  always  professing  his  full  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the 
mother  country,  he  asserted  that  self-government  would  give 
them  everything  they  wanted. 

"  Let  us  accept  jointly  the  idea  that  the  most 
complete  internal  self-government  is  what  we  are 
both  aiming  at.  That  self-government  means 
that  every  question  in  connection  with  this  country 
we  shall  decide,  and  we  alone.  The  we  are  the 
white  .men  in  South  Africa — Dutch  and  English." 

Between  the  two  Mr.  Rhodes  kept  the  balance  even. 
Speaking  at  the  Paarl  about  the  same  time,  he  declared  that 
he  hardly  knew  which  to  choose  between,  the  Dutch  and  the 
English,  as  the  dominant  race  in  the  world. 

"  You  have  only  got  to  read  history  to  know 
that  if  ever  there  was  a  proud,  rude  man,  it  was 
an  Englishman — the  only  man  to  cope  with  him 
was  a  Dutchman." 

The  impression  left  upon  the  mind  by  the  reading  of  these 
earlier  speeches  of  Mr.  Rhodes  is  that,  while  devoted  to  the 
British  Empire  and  true  to  the  principle  of  the  Empire,  he  was 
nevertheless  primarily  a  Cape  Colonist.  We  have  here  nothing 
concerning  the  paramountcy  of  Downing  Street,  or  even  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  Empire.  What  he  struggled  for  was  the  para- 
mountcy of  Cape  Colony.  The  Cape  was  to  be  the  dominant 
power  in  South  Africa.  The  Northern  extension  of  Bechuana- 
land  was  to  be  made  for  the  Cape,  and  the  Cape  was  then,  as 


146 


Photograph  by] 


[E.  H.  Mills. 


Dr.  F.  Rutherfoord  Harris. 


HIS  SPEECHES.  147 

it  is  now,  and  will  probably  always  remain,  the  colony  in  which 
the  majority  of  the  people  speak  Dutch.  No  person  ever 
rebuked  more  vehemently  in  advance  the  attempts  of  the 
military  coercionists  to  discriminate  against  the  Dutch  in 
favour  of  the  British.  Mr.  Rhodes,  by  all  his  antecedents, 
by  force  of  instinct,  strengthened  by  the  deepest  political 
conviction,  would  have  been  driven  had  he  lived  to  come  to 
the  front  and  defend  the  Dutch  of  South  Africa  against  the 
"  loyalists  "  who  clamour  for  disfranchisement  and  persecution 
of  the  Dutch  as  the  condition  of  the  settlement  of  South 
Africa. 

We  had  the  same  kind  of  thing  in  1884,  when,  after  the 
Warren  expedition,  it  was  reported  that  Sir  Charles  Warren 
had  drawn  up  a  scheme  which  contained  a  provision  that  no 
Dutchman  need  apply  for  land  in  the  newly-acquired  territory. 
Upon  this  Mr.  Rhodes  said  : — 

"  I  think  all  would  recognise  that  I  am  an 
Englishman,  and  one  of  my  strongest  feelings  is 
loyalty  to  my  own  country.  If  the  report  of  such 
a  condition  in  the  settlement  by  Sir  Charles 
Warren  is  correct,  that  no  man  of  Dutch  descent 
is  to  have  a  farm,  it  would  be  better  for  the 
English  colonists  to  retire.  I  remember,  when  a 
youngster,  reading  in  my  English  history  of  the 
supremacy  of  my  country  and  its  annexations, 
and  that  there  were  two  cardinal  axioms — that 
the  word  of  the  nation  when  once  pledged  was 
never  broken,  and  that  when  a  man  accepted  the 
citizenship  of  the  British  Empire  there  was  no 
distinction  between  races.  It  has  been  my 
misfortune  in  one  year  to  meet  with  the  breach  of 
one  and  the  proposed  breach  of  the  other.  The 
result  will  be  that  when  the  troops  are  gone  we 
shall  have  to  deal  with  sullen  feeling,  discontent, 
and  hostility.  The  proposed  settlement  of 
Bechuanaland  is  based  on  the  exclusion  of 
colonists  of  Dutch  descent.  I  raise  my  voice  in 
most  solemn  protest  against  such  a  course,  and  it 


148  POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

is  the  duty  of  every  Englishman  in  the  House  to 
record  his  solemn  protest  against  it.  In  conclu- 
sion, I  wish  to  say  that  the  breach  of  solemn 
pledges  and  the  introduction  of  race  distinctions 
must  result  in  bringing  calamity  on  this  country  ; 
and  if  such  a  policy  is  pursued  it  will  endanger 
the  whole  of  our  social  relationships  with  colonists 
of  Dutch  descent,  and  endanger  the  supremacy 
of  Her  Majesty  in  this  country." 

No  one  could  have  denounced  more  vehemently  than  Mr. 
Rhodes  the  suggestion  that  a  Crown  Colony  of  any  kind  should 
be  established  under  Downing  Street  in  the  heart  of  South 
Africa. 

"  I  have  held,"  he  said,  "to  one  view.  That 
is  the  government  of  South  Africa  by  the  people 
of  South  Africa  whilst  keeping  the  Imperial  tie 
of  self-defence." 

While  he  would  not  object  to  allow  the  Imperial  Government 
a  temporary  responsibility  during  a  period  of  transition,  he 
declared — 

"  I  do  object  most  distinctly  to  the  formation 
of  a  separate  British  colony  inHhe  interior  of 
South  Africa  on  the  Zambesi  apart  from  the 
Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope." 

If  he  felt  that  as  far  away  as  the  Zambesi  is,  how  much  more 
strongly  would  he  have  felt  it  just  across  the  Vaal  and  the 
Orange  River ! 

Incidentally  also  note  that  Mr.  Rhodes  strongly  supported 
the  Dutch  policy  of  dealing  with  the  natives  as  opposed  to 
the  policy  of  Exeter  Hall  and  the  missionaries.  He  main- 
tained that  the  Dutch  treated  the  natives  very  well.  His  own 
native  policy,  which  is  practically  accepted  to-day  by  nearly 
every  white  man  in  South  Africa,  was  stated  by  him  in  1888 
as  follows  : — 

"  Well,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  there 
must  be  class  legislation,  that  there  must  be  Pass 


HIS  SPEECHES.  149 

Laws  and  Peace  Preservation  Acts,  and  that  we 
have  got  to  treat  natives,  where  they  are  in  a 
state  of  barbarism,  in  a  different  way  to  ourselves. 
We  are  to  be  lords  over  them.  These  are  my 
politics  on  native  affairs,  and  these  are  the  politics 
of  South  Africa.  Treat  the  natives  as  a  subject 
people  as  long  as  they  continue  in  a  state  of 
barbarism  and  communal  tenure ;  be  the  lords 
over  them,  and  let  them  be  a  subject  race — and 
keep  the  liquor  from  them." 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  these  extracts,  we  can  see  what 
would  have  been  the  line  which  Mr.  Rhodes  would  have  taken 
in  the  immediate  future  of  South  Africa.  First  and  foremost, 
Mr.  Rhodes  would  have  stood  by  the  flag.  He  would  never 
be  the  George  Washington  of  a  revolted  South  Africa — unless, 
of  course,  Downing  Street  should  try  to  play  the  part  of 
George  III.  Secondly,  he  would  of  necessity  have  become 
the  centre  round  which  would  have  gravitated  all  the  forces 
making  for  self-government  and  colonial  independence.  He 
was  the  natural  leader  of  the  protest  against  that  militarism 
which  cost  us  the  Transvaal  in  1 880-81,  and  which  will 
inevitably  produce  the  same  results  if  it  is  allowed  to  place 
South  Africa  under  the  rule  of  the  soldier's  jack-boot.  Thirdly, 
Mr.  Rhodes  would  have  undertaken  the  championship  of  the 
Dutch  against  the  dominant  party  which  wished  to  put  them 
under  the  harrow. 

Extracts  give  an  imperfect  idea  of  Mr.  Rhodes's 
speeches.  I  quote  therefore  one  speech  in  full.  It  was  that 
which  he  delivered  when  he  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  fame  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  which  was  to  close  so  disastrously 
with  the  Jameson  Raid.  The  speech  is  that  which  he  addressed 
to  the  shareholders  of  the  Chartered  Company  on  January  i8th, 
1895.  It  is  also  interesting  as  containing  a  very  full  descrip- 
tion of  the  condition  of  things  in  Rhodesia  at  that  time. 

"Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen,  I  have  to 
thank  you  for  the  reception  which  you  have 
accorded  to  me,  but  I  think  that  you  naturally 


150  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

desire  that  we  should  deal  with  the  practical  part 
of  the  Company's  development  in  Matabeleland 
and  Mashonaland,  because  you  must  remember 
that  the  English  are  a  very  practical  people. 
They  like  expansion,  but  they  like  it  in  connection 
with  practical  business.  I  will  not  refer  to  the 
causes  that  led  to  our  late  war,  but  I  may  tell  you 
very  frankly  that  we  either  had  to  have  that  war 
or  to  leave  the  country.  I  do  not  blame  the 
Matabele.  Their  system  was  a  military  system  ; 
once  a  year  they  raided  the  surrounding  people, 
and  such  a  system  was  impossible  for  our  develop- 
ment. Conclusions  were  tried,  and  they  came  to 
a  successful  issue  so  far  as  we  were  concerned.  I 
might  make  one  remark  with  respect  to  that  war ; 
that  to  refer  to  the  men  who  took  part  in  it  as 
political  adventurers  was  a  mistake.  You  can 
quite  understand  that,  however  bad  times  were, 
you  would  not  risk  your  life  unless  there  was 
something  other  than  profit  from  the  possible 
chance  of  obtaining  a  farm  at  the  end  of  the  war 
of  the  value  now  of  «about  ^50.  Really,  why  the 
people  volunteered  so  readily  was  that  they  had 
adopted  this  new  country  as  their  home,  and  they 
saw  very  clearly  that  unless  they  tried  issues  with 
the  Matabele,  they  would  have  to  leave  the 
country.  I  think  that  is  the  best  reply  to  the 
charge  that  the  men  who  took  a  part  in  the  war 
did  it  for  the  sake  of  loot  and  profit. 

"  Now,  in  looking  at  this  question,  we  have  to 
consider  what  we  possess,  and  I  can  tell  you  that 
we  possess  a  very  large  piece  of  the  world.  If 
you  will  look  at  the  map,  let  us  consider  what  we 
have  north  of  the  Zambesi.  We  have  now  taken 
over  the  administration  of  the  land  north  of  the 
Zambesi  save  and  except  the  Nyassaland 
Protectorate.  We  have  also  received  sanction 


HIS  SPEECHES.  151 

for  all  our  concessions  there  ;  that  is,  the  land 
and  minerals  north  of  the  Zambesi  belong  to  the 
Chartered  Company,  with  one  exception,  the 
small  piece  termed  the  Nyassaland  Protectorate. 
Even  in  that,  however,  we  have  considerable 
rights  as  to  the  minerals  and  land,  in  return  for 
the  property  we  took  over  from  a  Scotch  com- 
pany called  the  Lakes  Company.  We  have, 
however,  been  relieved  from  the  cost  of  adminis- 
tration of  the  Nyassaland  Protectorate.  Her 
Majesty's  Government  and  the  British  people 
have  at  last  felt  it  their  duty  to  pay  for  the 
administration  of  one  of  their  own  provinces,  and 
I  think  we  have  a  very  fair  reply  to  the  Little 
Englanders,  who  are  always  charging  us  with 
increasing  the  responsibilities  of  Her  Majesty's 
Government,  and  stating  that  the  '  Charters,' 
when  in  difficulty,  always  appeal  to  the  mother 
country.  Our  reply  must  be  that  the  boot  is  on 
the  other  leg.  For  four  years  we  have  found  the 
cost  of  administration  of  one  of  your  own  provinces, 
and  we  are  proud  to  think  that  we  have  yearly 
paid  into  Her  Majesty's  Treasury  a  sum  for  the 
administration  of  one  of  our  own  provinces, 
because  Governments  were  unable  to  face  the 
House  of  Commons  to  ask  them  to  contribute  to 
their  obligations. 

"  Well,  that  is  the  position  north  of  the 
Zambesi  ;  and  I  may  say,  in  reference  to  that 
part  of  our  territory,  that  there  are  very  promising 
reports  from  it.  It  is  a  high  plateau,  fully 
mineralised,  and  every  report  shows  that  the  high 
plateau  is  a  part  where  Europeans  can  live.  If 
we  pass  from  that  to  the  South,  we  first  come  to 
Matabeleland  and  Mashonaland.  There  we  have 
had  great  difficulties  in  the  past.  We  had  a 
Charter,  but  not  a  country.  We  had  first  to  go 


152  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

in  and  occupy  Mashonaland  with  the  consent  of 
the  Mashonas,  and  then  we  had  to  deal  with  the 
Matabele.  At  the  present  moment  there  is  a 
civilised  government  over  the  whole  of  that. 
We  also  possess  the  land  and  minerals,  and  from 
a  sentimental  point  of  view  I  will  say  this — that 
I  visited  the  territory  the  other  day  and  saw 
nearly  all  the  chiefs  of  the  Matabele,  and  I  may 
say  that  they  were  all  pleased,  and  naturally  so. 
In  the  past  they  had  always  "  walked  delicately," 
because  any  one  who  got  to  any  position  in  the 
country  and  became  rich  was  generally  "smelt 
out,"  and  lost  his  life.  You  can  understand  that 
life  was  not  very  pleasant  under  such  conditions. 
In  so  far  as  the  bulk  of  the  people  were  concerned 
they  were  not  allowed  to  hold  any  cattle  or 
possess  anything  of  their  own.  Now  they  can 
hold  cattle,  and  the  leaders  of  the  people  know 
that  they  do  not  walk  daily  with  the  fear  of  death 
over  them,  We  have  now  occupied  the  country, 
which  I  think  we  administer  fairly,  and  in  that 
territory  also  we  possess  the  land  and  minerals. 

"  With  regard  to  the  South,  in  the  country 
termed  the  Bechuanaland  Protectorate,  we  pos- 
sess all  the  mineral  rights  of  Khamaland,  and  we 
have  the  negative  right  to  the  land  and  minerals 
as  far  south  as  Mafeking.  What  I  mean  by  the 
negative  right  is,  that  from  Mafeking  throughout 
the  whole  Protectorate,  since  the  grant  of  the 
Charter,  no  one  has  any  right  to  obtain  any 
concession  from  the  natives  except  through  the 
Chartered  Company.  We  therefore  possess  the 
land,  minerals,  and  territory  from  Mafeking  to 
Tanganyika — that  is,  twelve  hundred  miles  long 
and  five  hundred  broad.  I  might  say,  with 
respect  to  that  country,  that  I  see  no  future 
difficulties  in  so  far  as  risings  of  the  natives  are 


HIS  SPEECHES.  153 

concerned.  We  have  satisfied  the  people 
throughout  the  whole  of  it,  and  we  may  say 
that  we  have  now  come  to  that  point  when  we 
can  deal,  without  the  risk  of  war,  with  the 
peaceful  development  of  the  country.  That  is 
what  we  possess. 

"  Now,  you  might  very  fairly  ask  what  has  it 
cost  us.  Your  position  is  somewhat  as  follows  :— 
You  have  a  share  capital  of  ,£2,000,000,  and  you 
have  a  debenture  debt  to-day  of  about  ,£650,000  ; 
and  I  might  point  out  to  you  that  as  against  that 
debenture  debt  you  have  paid  for  the  one 
hundred  miles  of  railway  in  the  Crown  Colony  of 
Bechuanaland,  you  have  about  fourteen  hundred 
miles  of  telegraph,  you  have  built  magistrates' 
courts  in  the  whole  of  your  territory,  you  have 
civilised  towns  in  five  or  six  different  parts,  and 
the  Beira  Railway.  Although  you  do  not  hold 
their  debentures,  you  have  the  voting  power,  and 
the  railway  is  completed.  We  might  now  fairly 
say,  if  you  put  aside  the  Mafeking  Railway  and 
the  land  you  hold  in  the  Crown  Colony  of  Bechu- 
analand, as  apart  from  the  chartered  territories, 
that  your  debenture  debt  can  be  regarded  as  about 
,£350,000  ;  because  I  do  not  think  it  is  an  unfair 
price  to  put  in  your  assets  in  Bechuanaland  at 
,£300,000,  for,  since  the  railway  was  opened  there, 
it  has  paid  its  working  expenses  and  four  per  cent. 
Therefore,  in  looking  at  the  matter  from  a  purely 
commercial  point  of  view,  you  might  say,  we 
possess  a  country  with  all  the  rights  to  it,  in  length 
twelve  hundred  miles  and  in  breadth  an  average 
of  five  hundred,  and  we  have  a  debt  of  about 
,£300,000  or  ,£350,000,  because  we  have  an  asset 
apart  from  that  country  in  the  Crown  Colony  of 
British  Bechuanaland  of  about  ,£300,000. 

"The  next  question  you  would  naturally  ask 

L    2 


154  POLITICAL   AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

would  be,  what  is  the  appreciation  of  the  people 
as  to  that  country  ?  The  only  test  you  can  take 
in  a  way  is,  apart  from  the  very  large  sum  put 
into  mineral  developments,  what  the  people  con- 
sider the  value  of  the  townships  sold,  because  that 
is  always  the  judgment  of  the  individual.  He 
buys  a  stand  because  he  wishes  to  erect  a  store 
or  building.  You  cannot  term  that  the  specula- 
tive action  of  syndicates.  I  may  tell  you  that  at 
the  last  stand  sale  in  Bulawayo  the  purchases  were 
made  by  people  who  have  since  erected  stores  and 
buildings  with  the  intention  of  remaining  and  re- 
siding in  the  country.  As  you  are  aware,  the  sales 
there  realised  ,£53,000,  and  I  received  in  connec- 
tion with  this  matter  an  interesting  telegram  last 
night  A  stand  which  fetched  at  our  sale  ,£160 
was  sold — I  suppose  yesterday  or  the  day  before, 
because  we  are  now  in  complete  communication 
by  the  telegraph — for  ,£3,050.  The  value  of  the 
building  on  it  is  estimated  at  ,£1,000,  so  within 
six  months,  in  the  estimation  of  the  purchaser,  the 
stand  has  risen  from  ,£160  to  ,£2,050,  in  so  far  as 
the  ground  value  is  concerned.  That  speaks  more 
than  words,  and  shows  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  the  country. 

"The  next  risk  with  a  commercial  company 
like  ours  would  be  the  question  of  the  cost  of 
administration.  You  might  very  fairly  say,  '  We 
know  that  the  future  is  all  right.  We  feel  that 
so  huge  a  country,  mineralised  like  that,  must 
come  out  successfully  ;  but  what  is  the  cost  of 
administration,  what  is  the  difference  between 
revenue  and  expenditure  ? '  That  is  the  next 
question  which  business  men  would  ask.  In 
connection  with  that  you  will  no  doubt  have 
examined  the  reports,  but  it  is  always  very 
difficult  to  obtain  a  practical  idea  from  a  report. 


HIS  SPEECHES.  155 

respecting  a  question  like  this.  I  can,  however, 
tell  you  from  my  knowledge  about  the  position. 
The  revenue  now  is  about  .£50,000  per  annum 
from  the  country,  and  the  expenditure  is  about 
.£70,000.  You  must,  however,  remember  that  1 
do  not  include  in  the  revenue  of  £50,000  the 
sale  of  stands,  because  I  call  that  capital  account. 
I  mean  by  revenue,  what  you  receive  monthly 
from  stamps,  licences,  and  the  ordinary  sources  of 
revenue  which  every  country  possesses.  I  am 
therefore  justified  in  thinking  that  we  need  feel 
no  alarm  as  to  the  future  about  balancing  our 
expenditure  with  our  revenue,  because  I  would 
point  out  to  you,  that  if  with  no  claim  licences— 
because  we  are  deriving  few  or  none  now — with 
no  customs,  and  practically  with  no  hut  tax  at 
present,  you  almost  balance  now,  I  think  we  may 
fairly  say  that  we  shall  balance  in  the  future,  and 
earn  a  sum  with  which  to  pay  interest  on  our 
debentures.  I  do  not  think  that  is  an  excessive 
proposition  to  make,  and  you  must  remember  that 
this  expenditure  covers  a  force  of  over  two 
hundred  police.  Two  years  ago,  when  I  toM 
you  we  were  balancing  in  Mashonaland,  we  had 
practically  dismissed  all  our  police,  as  we  could 
not  afford  them,  but  the  new  position  is  that  with 
an  expenditure  of  £70,000  and  a  revenue  of 
.£50,000,  we  are  paying  for  two  hundred  police, 
and  really  we  do  not  want  more  expenditure. 
We  have  magistrates  in  every  town,  mining 
commissioners,  and  a  complete  system  of  govern- 
ment. We  have  a  Council,  an  Administrator,  a 
Judge,  and  a  Legal  Adviser.  I  cannot  therefore 
see  that  we  want  any  more  heavy  expenditure, 
and  that  is  why  I  have  not  asked  for  any  increase 
of  capital. 

"  From  a  commercial  point  of  view,  the  way  I 


Photograph  />y] 


\E.  II.  Mills 


Mr.  Hays  Hammond. 


HIS  SPEECHES.  157 

look  at  it  is  somewhat  as  follows  : — We  have  a 
capital  of  ,£2,000,000  in  shares,  let  that  be  our 
capital  ;  we  have  our  debentures,  as  to  half  of 
which  we  have  a  liquid  asset  in  the  Crown  Colony 
of  British  Bechuanaland.  What  future  extra 
expenditure  can  there  be  ?  There  can  be  no  more 
wars,  for  there  are  no  more  people  to  make  the 
wars.  As  to  public  buildings,  in  each  of  our 
towns  we  have  most  excellent  public  buildings, 
quite  equal  to  the  ordinary  buildings  in  Cape 
Colony  ;  I  speak  of  Bulawayo,  Salisbury,  Umtali, 
and  Victoria.  As  to  telegraphs,  every  town  in 
the  country  is  connected  with  the  telegraph  except- 
ing Umtali.  As  to  railway  communication,  we 
have  given  railway  communication  in  the  east  from 
Beira  to  Chimoio,  through  the  'fly,'  and  one  of 
the  richest  portions  of  the  country  is  only  seventy- 
five  miles  from  the  terminus.  We  have  extended 
the  Vryburg  Railway  to  Mafeking — that  is  five 
hundred  miles  from  Bulawayo.  If  the  country 
warrants  further  railway  communications  the 
money  can  be  found  apart  from  the  Charter. 
If  the  country  does  not  warrant  any  further 
railway  extensions,  then  we  had  better  not  build 
it.  The  people  must  be  satisfied  as  we  were  in 
the  past  at  Kimberley.  For  years  we  had  to 
go  six  hundred  miles  by  waggon  to  Kimberley, 
and  then  we  went  five  hundred  miles,  and  later 
four  hundred  miles  by  the  same  means,  although 
the  yearly  exports  were  between  ,£2,000,000  and 
,£3,000,000.  When  Kimberley  justified  a  rail- 
way, a  railway  was  made,  and  so  it  will  be  in 
this  case.  We  have  maintained  our  position. 
We  have  a  complete  administration,  and  we 
have  railway  facilities  which  will  allow  batteries 
to  be  sent  in.  I  do  not  see,  therefore,  where 
more  public  expenditure  is  required.  The 


158  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

extension  of  railways  will  be  undertaken  when 
the  country  warrants  it,  apart  from  the  Charter. 
When,  therefore,  I  came  home,  and  was  spoken 
to  about  the  question  of  an  increase  of  capital, 
I,  after  a  careful  consideration,  thought  it  would 
be  an  unwise  thing  to  submit  to  the  share- 
holders. We  are  practically  paying  our  way, 
and  we  shall  keep  our  Chartered  capital  at 
,£2,000,000  ;  and  I  cannot  see  in  the  future 
any  reason  which  would  cause  us  to  increase  it. 
If  the  country  is  a  failure,  we  had  better  not 
increase  it ;  and  if  the  country  is  a  success,  it  will 
not  be  wanted. 

"  Now,  we  have  dealt  with  the  question  of 
what  we  possess,  what  it  has  cost  us,  and  our 
present  financial  position,  and  you  might  next 
very  fairly  say,  What  are  the  prospects  ?  Well, 
looking  at  that  question,  I  can  only  say  that  I 
have  been  through  the  country,  and  from  an 
agricultural  point  of  view  I  know  it  is  a  place 
where  white  people  are  going  to  settle.  It  is 
good  agricultural  country.  As  to  climate,  it  is 
asked  by  some  whether  it  is  not  a  fever  country. 
It  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  is  a  high  healthy 
plateau,  and  I  would  as  soon  live  there  as  in  any 
part  of  South  Africa.  Towards  the  Portuguese 
territory  and  in  some  parts  of  the  low  country 
the  climate  is  unhealthy,  and  the  same  applies  to 
the  country  just  on  the  Zambesi  ;  the  high 
plateau,  however,  is  perfectly  healthy.  You  may 
therefore  say  that  you  have  a  country  where 
white  people  can  live  and  be  born  and  brought 
up,  and  it  is  suitable  for  agriculture ;  but  of 
course  the  main  point  we  must  look  to,  in  so  far 
as  a  return  to  our  shareholders  is  concerned,  is 
the  question  of  the  mineralisation  of  the  country. 
I  have  said  once  before  that  out  of  licences  and 


HIS  SPEECHES.  159 

the  usual  sources  of  revenue  for  a  Government 
you  cannot  expect  to  pay  dividends.  The  people 
would  get  annoyed  if  you  did ;  they  do  not  like 
to  see  licences  spent  in  dividends — those  are 
assets  which  are  to  pay  for  any  public  works  and 
for  good  government.  We  must  therefore  look 
to  our  minerals  to  give  us  a  return  on  our  capital, 
which  you  must  remember  is  ,£2,000,000. 

"  In  dealing  with  that  question,  I  will  ask, 
\Yhat  have  you  got  ?  You  possess  a  country  about 
one  thousand  two  hundred  miles  by  five  hundred 
which  is  mineralised,  and  as  regards  the  efforts 
which  have  at  present  been  made,  you  have  in 
connection  with  the  search  for  minerals  forty 
thousand  claims  registered  with  the  Government 
of  the  country.  That  means  two  thousand  miles 
of  mineralised  quartz,  and  I  would  refer  you  to  the 
report  of  Mr.  Hammond,  who  went  through  the 
country  with  me,  and  who  is  the  consulting  en- 
gineer of  the  Goldfields  of  South  Africa  Company. 
He  was  highly  pleased  with  what  he  saw.  There 
was  a  suggestion  made  that  the  reefs  were  not  true 
fissure  veins  ;  did  not  go  down.  He  pooh-poohed 
that  idea.  I  would  refer  you  to  page  35  of  the 
directors'  report,  where  he  alludes  to  that,  and 
says  :  '  Veins  of  this  class  are  universally  noted  for 
their  permanency.'  Then  if  you  follow  his  remarks 
on  the  mineral  position,  you  will  find  that  he  says  : 
'  It  would  be  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  gold- 
mining  if,  upon  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  mineral- 
ised veins,  valuable  ore-shoots  should  not  be 
developed  as  the  result  of  future  work.'  He 
adds  :  '  There  are,  I  think,  substantial  grounds 
to  predict  the  opening  up  of  shoots  of  ore  from 
which  an  important  mining  industry  will  ultimately 
be  developed.'  Then  he  warns  people  about  the 
mode  of  investing  money  in  the  search  for  minerals, 


160  POLITICAL  AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

and  says  :  '  With  these  admonitions,  I  confidently 
commend  the  country  to  the  attention  of  mining 
capitalists.'  That  is  the  report  of  a  cautious  man 
who  visited  the  country  and  reported  on  what 
he  saw. 

"  You  must  remember  that  in  the  past,  in 
dealing  with  our  reefs,  we  have  not  had  men 
acquainted  with  mining.  They  were  chiefly 
young  fellows  who  went  up  and  occupied  the 
country,  and  who  knew  as  little  about  mining 
as  many  of  you  here  do.  They  had  no  means 
of  ascertaining,  because  the  mineralisation  of  that 
country  is  quartz,  and  not  alluvial,  and  we  could 
get  in  no  batteries.  Still,  the  past  four  years 
have  proved  that  the  whole  country  is  mine- 
ralised from  end  to  end,  and  in  reference  to  the 
discoveries  made  I  think  I  am  justified  in  stating 
that  such  have  been  the  reports  of  those  who 
are  connected  with  those  discoveries,  that  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  million  sterling  has  been 
subscribed  lately  for  the  development  of  them, 
not  by  puffing  prospectuses,  but  privately  by 
friends  of  those  who  have  gone  out  and  made 
reports  on  what  they  .have  discovered.  If  I 
might  address  a  word  of  warning  to  you,  I  would 
say  we,  as  directors,  are  responsible  to  you  for 
the  Charter  as  to  its  capital.  Do  not  go  and 
discount  possibilities  as  if  they  were  proved 
results.  I  think,  however,  that  with  the  facts 
which  I  have  stated,  you  may  be  confident  that 
in  the  future  Ma'tabeleland  and  Mashonaland 
will  be  gold  -  producing  countries,  because  it 
would  be  contrary  to  Nature  to  suppose  that  a 
country  that  is  mineralised  from  end  to  end 
should  not  have  payable  shoots.  With  these 
words  I  will  make  no  further  remark  as  to  the 
gold,  save  and  except  to  tell  you  this,  that  if 


HIS  SPEECHES.  161 

one  of  you  asks  how  you  will  get  a  return  in 
connection  with  that  gold,  I  may  state  that  what 
I  term  the  '  patent '  in  the  country — namely, 
the  Company  getting  a  share  in  the  vendor 
scrip — has  been  practically  accepted  by  the 
country.  We  have  not  had  the  slightest  diffi- 
culty in  settling  with  the  various  corporations 
who  have  obtained  capital  from  the  public. 

"  The  great  objection  to  the  idea  was  its 
newness.  It  had  never  been-  tried  before.  It 
has  now  been  tried  and  accepted,  and  for  a  very 
simple  reason.  The  prospector  has  found  that  he 
is  not  eaten  up  by  monthly  licences  while  holding 
his  claim  ;  the  capitalist,  when  he  goes  to  purchase, 
knows  that  the  Charter  has  a  certain  interest,  and 
pays  accordingly ;  and  as  to  the  public,  who 
always  find  the  capital  for  quartz  mining,  it  is  a 
matter  of  no  importance  to  them  whether  Jones 
gets  all  the  vendor  scrip  or  whether  Jones  and  the 
Government  share  it  together.  The  public  do 
not  take  such  a  personal  interest  in  Jones  that 
they  require  that  he  should  have  the  whole  of  the 
scrip.  They  also  know  that  if  the  Government 
receive  half  of  it,  it  is  held  until  the  value  of  the 
mine  is  proved,  whereas  if  the  whole  of  it  was 
handed  over  to  Jones,  he  might  part  with  it  to  a 
confiding  public.  When,  therefore,  you  are 
considering  this  question  commercially  you  will 
say,  '  Well,  we  are  dealing  with  a  proposition  of 
a  capital  of  ,£2,000,000  ;  we  are  dealing  with  a 
country  nearly  as  big  as  Europe,  and  we  know  it 
is  mineralised.  The  present  tests  must  be  fairly 
satisfactory,  or  else  the  friends  of  those  who  have 
gone  out  and  found  reefs  would  not  have  sub- 
scribed three-quarters  of  a  million  sterling  for 
their  development.  We  must  always  remember 
in  connection  with  mining  that  it  is  very 


162  POLITICAL   AND   RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

speculative,  as  I  told  a  friend  of  mine  the 
other  day — they  are  always  bothering  me  about 
mines — and  I  said  to  one  of  my  friends,  a  French 
financier,  'I  will  give  you  advice  at  last.'  He  was 
delighted,  and  asked  what  I  would  advise.  I  said, 
'  Either  buy  French  Rentes  or  Consols.'  Then  he 
went  away  annoyed.  What,  however,  I  desire  to 
put  to  you  is,  that  when  you  go  into  a  mining 
venture  you  go  into  a  speculative  venture  ;  but 
as  a  proposition  with  a  capital  of  ,£2,000,000,  deal- 
ing with  a  country  almost  as  big  as  Europe,  which 
is  mineralised,  and  with  that  subscribed  capital  for 
its  development — and  as  regards  its  administra- 
tion, the  revenue  paying  for  the  expenditure— it  is 
a  fair  business-like  proposition.  When  you  con- 
sider this  comparatively — and  that  is  the  great 
secret  in  life — it  represents  in  capital  perhaps  one 
Rand  mine.  As  to  the  question  whether  the  scrip 
proposal  has  been  accepted,  we  have  settled  with 
all  the  chief  corporations,  and  as  minerals  are 
found  in  that  territory,  you  therefore  know  per- 
fectly well  that  in  reference  to  the  share  capital 
you  have  an  interest  in  everything  that  is  dis- 
covered. I  will  not  say  anything  more  than  that 
with  regard  to  the  mineral  question,  but  I  would 
repeat  again  :  do  not  discount  possibilities  as  if 
they  were  proved  results. 

"  Now,  gentlemen,  I  think  that  on  this  occa- 
sion you  cannot  accuse  me  of  not  dealing  with 
the  commercial  aspects  of  the  country.  I  think 
you  will  admit  that  I  have  shown  you  the  size  of 
it,  the  cost  of  it,  and  the  possibilities  of  it,  and  if 
there  is  any  point  I  have  missed,  please  tell  me. 
We  have  to  consider,  because  we  are  a  Charter, 
and  are  connected  with  politics,  the  political 
position  of  the  country,  and  I  may  say  that  that 
is  most  satisfactory.  We  had  a  good  many 


HIS  SPEECHES.  163 

enemies  before,  and  difficulties  with  the  Portu- 
guese, with  the  Transvaal,  and  with  the  Matabele. 
As  you  know,  the  Matabele  difficulty  has  dis- 
appeared ;  they  have  incorporated  themselves 
with  us.  The  difficulties  with  the  Portuguese  are 
also  over.  We  had  different  views  as  to  where 
our  boundaries  were  situated  ;  but  now  I  may 
say  that  our  relations  with  them  are  on  the  most 
friendly  footing,  and  we  must  always  remember, 
with  reference  to  the  Portuguese,  that  they  were 
the  original  civilisers  of  Africa.  They  had  the 
bad  luck,  if  I  may  say  so,  to  get  only  the  coast,  to 
be  on  the  fringe,  and  never  to  have  penetrated  to 
the  high  healthy  plateau  at  the  back.  Their  power 
is  not  what  it  was  ;  but  we  must  respect  them,  and 
we  must  remember  that  the  man  who  founded  the 
Portuguese  Colonial  Empire — that  is,  Henry  the 
Navigator — was  of  our  own  blood.  The  other 
day,  when  we  were  at  Delagoa  Bay,  they  had 
trouble  with  the  natives,  and  we  offered — Dr. 
Jameson  and  I — to  assist  them,  because  the 
natives  in  rebellion  were  a  portion  of  the  tribe  of 
Gungunhana,  to  whom  we  pay  tribute,  but  the 
Portuguese  declined  our  assistance,  and  one  cannot 
help  respecting  their  national  pride.  They  would 
not  take  help  from  anyone,  and  we  should  do  the 
same.  They  were  very  courteous  and  thanked 
us,  but  they  declined  our  proffered  assistance, 
although  they  knew  that  we  could  help  them, 
because  these  natives  who  were  troubling  them 
were  receiving  tribute  from  us.  In  the  same 
way  they  refused  assistance  from  the  Transvaal 
Government,  and  I  believe  from  two  foreign 
Powers.  With  national  pride  they  are  settling 
their  difficulties  themselves.  It  will  be  our  object 
to  work  in  perfect  co-operation  with  the  Portu- 
guese Government  and  officials. 


164  POLITICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

"  With  regard  to  the  Transvaal,  our  neigh- 
bour the  President  finds  that  he  has  quite 
enough  to  do  in  dealing  with  his  own  people. 
I  have  always  felt  that  if  I  had  been  in 
President  Kruger's  position  I  should  have 
looked  upon  the  Chartered  Territory  as  my 
reversion.  He  must  have  been  exceedingly 
disappointed  when  we  went  in  and  occupied  it ; 
but  since  then  we  have  co-operated  most  heartily 
with  him,  and  I  look  to  no  political  difficulty 
from  the  Transvaal.  We  have  received  through- 
out the  complete  support  of  the  Cape  people, 
who,  recognising  that  it  was  too  great  an  under- 
taking for  themselves  to  enter  upon,  were  glad 
that  we  undertook  it,  and  they  look  upon  it  as 
their  Hinterland,  as,  remember,  we  shall  pass 
from  the  position  of  chartered  administration  to 
self-government,  when  the  country  is  occupied  by 
white  people — especially  by  Englishmen,  because 
if  Englishmen  object  to  anything  it  is  to  being 
governed  by  a  small  oligarchy.  They  will 
govern  themselves.  We  must  therefore  look  to 
the  future  of  Charterland — I  speak  of  ten  or 
twenty  years  hence — as  self-government,  and 
that  self-government  very  possibly  federal  with 
the  Cape  Government. 

"  Then  when  we  think  of  the  political 
position,  we  have  also  to  consider  the  English 
people,  and  I  must  say  we  have  received  the 
very  heartiest  support  from  the  English  public, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  possibly  from  ignorance— 
(laughter) — and  possibly  from  disappointment- 
Daughter)  -  and  I  think  in  many  cases  from  an 
utter  misconception.  I  remember  whilst  coming 
home,  sitting  down  on  board  ship  and  reading  this 
from  the  Daily  Chronicle: — •'  Not  a  single  un- 
employed workman  in  England  is  likely  to  secure 


HIS  SPEECHES.  165 

a  week's  steady  labour  as  a  result  of  a  forward 
policy  in  South  Africa.'  What  is  the  reply  to 
that  ?  I  do  not  reply  by  a  platform  address  about 
'  three  acres  and  a  cow  ' — (laughter) — or  with 
Socialistic  statements  as  to  '  those  who  have 
not,  taking  from  those  who  have.'  I  make 
the  practical  reply  that  we  have  built  200  miles 
of  railway,  and  that  the  rails  have  all  been 
made  in  England  and  the  locomotives  also. 
We  have  constructed  1,300  miles  of  tele- 
graphs, and  the  poles  and  wires  have  all  been 
made  in  England.  Everything  we  wear  has 
been  imported  from  England.  And  can  you  tell 
me  that  not  a  single  labourer  or  unemployed 
workman  in  England  is  likely  to  secure  a  week's 
steady  labour  as  a  result  of  that  enterprise  ?  I 
can  assure  you  it  does  them  much  more  good 
than  telling  them  about  three  acres  and  a  cow, 
because  nothing  has  ever  come  out  of  that  yet. 
(Laughter.)  And  as  to  the  Socialistic  programme 
—well,  you  know  the  story  of  one  of  the  Roth- 
schilds, I  think,  who  listened  to  it  all  in  the  train, 
and  then  handed  the  gentleman  who  addressed 
him  a  sovereign  as  his  share  of  the  plunder. 
(Laughter.)  But  we  have  to  deal  with  this 
question,  and  I  hope  I  am  not  tiring  you  of  it, 
because  we  have  to  study  the  feeling  of  the 
English  people,  and  they  are  most  practical.  You 
must  show  that  it  is  to  their  benefit  that  these 
expansions  are  made,  because  the  man  in  the 
street,  if  he  does  not  get  a  share,  naturally  says  : 
'  And  where  do  I  come  in  ?  '  (Laughter.)  You 
must  show  them  that  there  is  a  distinct  advantage 
to  them  in  these  developments  abroad.  That  is 
the  reason  why,  when  we  made  a  constitution  for 
this  country,  I  submitted  a  provision  that  the 
duty  on  British  goods  should  not  exceed  the 


166  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

present  Cape  tariff.  I  should  like  you  to  listen  to 
me  on  that,  if  I  do  not  tire  you.  You  must 
remember  that  your  '  Little  Englander '  says, 
and  very  fairly :  '  What  is  the  advantage  of  all 
these  expansions  ?  What  are  the  advantages  of 
our  Colonies  ?  As  soon  as  we  give  them  self- 
government,  if  we  remonstrate  with  them  as  to  a 
law  they  pass,  they  tell  us  they  will  haul  down  the 
flag  ;  and  on  receiving  self-government,  they  imme- 
diately devise  how  they  can  keep  our  goods  out, 
and  make  bad  boots  and  shoes  for  themselves.' 
It  is  true  that  many  of  our  Colonies  have  found 
out  the  folly  of  Protection,  but  they  have  created 
a  bogey  which  they  cannot  allay,  because  the 
factories  have  been  created,  the  workmen  have 
come  out  there,  and  they  are  only  kept  going  by 
the  high  duties  ;  and  a  poor  Minister  who  tries  to 
pass  a  low  tariff  knows  perfectly  well  that  he  will 
have  his  windows  broken  by  an  infuriated  mob. 
The  only  chance  for  a  colony  is  to  stop  these 
ideas  before  they  develop,  and  taking  this  new 
country  of  ours,  I  thought  it  would  be  a  wise 
thing  to  put  in  the  constitution  that  the  tariff 
should  not  exceed  the  present  Cape  tariff,  which 
is  a  revenue  and  not  a  protective  tariff.  (Cheers.) 
The  proof  of  that  is  that  we  have  not  a  single 
factory  in  the  Cape  Colony.  I  thought  if  we 
made  that  a  part  of  our  constitution  in  the  interior, 
-we  should  stop  the  creation  of  vested  factories,  a 
most  unfair  treatment  of  British  trade,  and  a  most 
unjust  thing  to  the  people  of  a  new  country.  You 
may  not  be  surprised  that  that  proposition  was 
refused.  It  was  refused  because  it  was  not  under- 
stood. People  thought  that  there  was  a  proposition 
for  a  preferential  system.  I  may  tell  you  that  all 
my  letters  of  thanks  came  from  the  Protectionists, 
-and  nothing  from  the  Free  Traders,  though  it  was 


HIS  SPEECHES.  167 

really  a  Free  Trade  proposition.  A  proposition 
came  from  Home  that  I  should  put  in  the  words 
'  That  the  duty  on  imported  goods  should  not 
exceed  the  present  Cape  tariff.'  I  declined  to  do 
that  because  I  thought  that  in  the  future,  twenty- 
five  or  fifty  years  hence,  you  might  deal  with  the 
United  States  as  you  would  with  a  naughty  child, 
saying,  '  If  you  will  keep  on  this  system  of  the 
McKinley  tariff,  or  an  increase  of  it,  we  shall  shut 
your  goods  out/  in  the  same  way  that  you  go  to 
war,  not  because  you  are  pleased  with  war,  but 
because  you  are  forced.  That  is  why  I  wished  to 
put  the  words  '  British  goods,'  because  actually 
England  in  the  future  might  adopt  this  policy  and 
yet  have  a  clause  in  the  constitution  of  one  of  her 
own  colonies  which  prevented  it.  (Cheers.)  Now 
who  could  object  to  this  ?  Certainly  not  the  French 
or  the  German  Ambassadors,  because  so  long  as 
England's  policy  is  to  make  no  difference,  they 
come  in  under  this  clause,  the  policy  of  England 
being  that  there  should  be  no  preferential  right. 
Any  law  passed  by  us  giving  a  preferential  right 
would  be  disallowed.  But  this  clause  would  have 
assisted  the  German  and  French  manufacturer,  so 
long  as  England  remains  what  it  is,  because  they 
also  would  have  shared  in  the  privilege  of  the 
duty  on  imported  goods,  or  British  goods  not 
exceeding  12  per  cent.  If  you  follow  the  idea, 
so  long  as  England  did  not  sanction  a  law  making 
a  difference,  we  had  to  make  it  the  same  to  all. 
But  this  great  gain  was  obtained,  that  supposing 
that  the  charter  passed  into  self-government,  and 
a  wave  of  Protection  came  over  the  territory,  and 
they  pass,  we  will  say,  a  duty  of  50  per  cent,  on 
British  goods,  that  would  be  disallowed,  because 
it  was  contrary  to  the  constitution.  The  only 
objection  that  has  ever  been  made  to  this  propo- 

M 


168  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

sition  is  that  it  would  have  been  law  as  long  as  it 
was  no  good,  and  when  it  was  any  good  it  would 
have  been  done  away  with.  That  shows  a  want 
of  knowledge  again.  People  think  the  people  in 
the  colonies  are  all  for  Protection.  It  is  nothing 
of  the  kind.  They  are  very  sensible  people, 
and  they  know  that  Protection  means  that 
everything  you  eat  and  wear  costs  you  50  per 
cent.  more.  But  what  does  happen  is  that  at 
times  a  wave  comes  over  a  country,  of  Pro- 
tection, and  it  is  carried  by  a  small  majority. 
It  then  becomes  law  ;  the  factories  are  created 
and  the  human  beings  come  out  and  they  have 
to  be  fed,  and  therefore  you  cannot  get  rid  of 
them.  But  in  case  of  a  wave  coming  in  the 
country  under  a  constitution  as  suggested,  the 
Secretary  of  State  would  be  justified  in  dis- 
allowing. He  would  say :  '  There  is  a  large 
minority  against  this  law,  and  as  it  is  against  the 
constitution  I  disallow.'  And  look  at  the  ramifi- 
cations of  it.  Of  course  if  the  gold  is  in  the 
quantity  in  Matabeleland  and  Mashonaland  that 
we  think,  that  will  become  a  valuable  asset  in 
Africa,  and  we  know  perfectly  well  there  is  going 
to  be  a  Customs  Union  of  Africa — leave  out  the 
question  of  republics  and  the  questions  of  Govern- 
ment and  the  Flag  ;  but  we  know  the  practical 
thing  will  happen,  that  there  will  be  a  Customs 
Union  in  Africa.  This  clause  being  in  our  charter 
would  have  governed  the  rest  of  Africa,  and  there- 
fore you  would  have  had  preserved  to  British 
goods,  Africa  as  one  of  your  markets.  (Cheers.) 
Take  the  comparison  of  this  question,  and  I  will 
show  you  what  it  means.  You  have  sixty  millions 
of  your  people  in  the  United  States.  You  created 
that  Government ;  that  is  your  production,  if  I 
may  call  it  so  ;  they  have  adopted  this  folly  of  Pro- 


HIS  SPEECHES.  169 

tection— they  cannot  get  rid  of  it  now.  What  is 
your  trade  with  the  United  States — sixty  millions 
of  your  own  people  ?  I  will  tell  you.  Your  exports 
are  about  ^40,000,000  per  annum.  Now,  in  Africa 
and  Egypt  we  have  only  600,000  whites  with  us, 
and  I  do  not  think  the  natives  are  very  great  con- 
sumers— but  you  are  up  to  ^"20,000,000.  I  will 
take  Southern  Africa.  You  are  doing  about 
^"15,000,000  with  the  Cape  and  Natal,  almost 
entirely  British  goods,  and  about  ^4,000,020  with 
Egypt,  where  you  have  a  fair  chance  for  your 
goods  ;  and  you  are  doing  ^20,000,000  with  those 
two  small  dependencies,  as  against  ^40,000,000 
with  another  creation  of  yours  which  has  shut  your 
own  goods  out  and  only  takes  ^40,000,000  from 
you.  If  it  had  given  a  fair  chance  to  your  trade 
you  would  be  doing  £\  50,000,000  with  the  United 
States,  to  your  own  advantage  and  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  American  people.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
cheers.)  I  can  see  very  clearly  that  the  whole 
of  your  politics  lie  in  your  trade,  or  should  do  so, 
because  you  are  not  like  France,  producing  wine — 
you  are  not  like  the  United  States,  a  world  by 
itself — you  are  a  small  province,  doing  nothing  but 
making  up  the  raw  material  into  the  manufactured 
article,  and  distributing  over  the  world,  and  your 
great  policy  should  be  to  keep  the  trade  of  the 
world,  and  therefore  you  have  done  a  wise  thing 
in  remaining  in  Egypt  and  taking  Uganda.  You 
have  to  thank  the  present  Prime  Minister  for  that, 
and  remember  this,  when  it  has  to  be  written, 
that  he  has  done  that  against  probably  the  feelings 
of  the  whole  of  his  party,  which  comprise  the 
Little  Englanders.  He  has  taken  Uganda  and 
retained  Egypt,  and  the  retention  of  Egypt 
means  the  retention  of  an  open  market  for  your 
goods.  (Hear,  hear.)  Why,  the  lesson  is  so 

M    2 


170  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

easy !  When  I  came  home  to  England  the  first 
time,  I  went  up  the  Thames,  and  what  did  I  find 
they  were  doing  ? — for  whom  were  they  making  ? 
They  were  making  for  the  world.  That  was 
what  they  were  doing  in  England  ;  and  when  I 
went  into  a  factory  there  was  not  a  man  who  was 
not  working  for  the  world.  Your  trade  is  the 
world,  and  your  life  is  the  world,  and  that  is  why 
you  must  deal  with  those  questions  of  expansion 
and  of  retention  of  the  world.  (Hear,  hear.)  Of 
course,  Cobdenism  was  a  most  beautiful  theory, 
and  it  is  right  that  you  should  look  to  the  whole 
world  ;  but  the  human  beings  in  the  world  will 
not  have  that.  They  will  want  to  make  their  own 
things  ;  and  if  they  find  that  England  can  make 
them  best  they  put  on  these  protective  duties  ; 
and  if  they  keep  on  doing  that  they  will  beat  you 
in  the  end.  It  is  not  ethical  discussions  about 
the  House  of  Lords  that  you  want,  or  about 
three  acres  and  a  cow.  And  you  talk  nonsense 
if  you  talk  about  doing  away  with  a  Second 
Chamber  so  that  a  wave  of  popular  feeling  could 
sweep  away  your  Constitution.  Brother  Jonathan 
does  not  do  that.  (Laughter.)  It  may  all  end 
in  strengthening  the  House  of  Lords.  We  all 
know  that.  When  you  come  to  the  election,  and 
when  you  go  on  your  various  election  committees, 
do  not  give  your  entire  attention  to  the  ethical 
question  of  the  House  of  Lords.  When  Jones  or 
Smith  at  the  ensuing  election  asks  you  for  your 
support,  tell  them — for  there  is  really  nothing  else 
before  you  in  the  election — '  We  will  have  this 
clause  put  in  about  Matabeleland.'  Everything 
comes  from  these  little  things.  You  do  not  know 
how  it  will  spread,  the  basis  of  it  being  that  your 
goods  shall  not  be  shut  out  from  the  markets  of 
the  world.  That  clause  will  develop,  and  will 


HIS  SPEECHES.  171 

spread  from  Matabeleland  to  Mashonaland,  and 
then  perhaps  Australia  and  Canada  will  consider 
the  question,  and  you  will  thus  be  retaining  a 
market  for  your  goods.  And  you  have  been 
actually  offered  this,  and  you  have  refused  it. 
You  will  be  acting  foolishly  if  you  do  not  in  the 
forthcoming  elections  insist  upon  that  clause  being 
put  in.  Now,  I  hope  you  will  not  say  I  have 
departed  from  the  commercial  aspect  and  gone  to 
a  political  speech  ;  but  I  can  assure  you  of  this— 
I  think  it  will  do  you  and  your  trade  more  good 
than  anything  I  can  conceive.  Gentlemen,  in  all 
things  it  is  the  little  questions  that  change  the 
world.  This  charter  came  from  an  accidental 
thought,  and  all  the  great  changes  of  the  world 
come  from  little  accidents.  All  the  combinations 
and  beautiful  essays  that  are  put  forward  so 
eagerly  are  unpractical  enough,  but  this  consti- 
tution is  a  more  practical  thing.  I  can  assure 
you  there  is  a  very  practical  thing  in  it.  We 
have  been  accused  of  being  a  speculative  set  of 
company-mongers,  and  nobody  could  see  any 
great  chance  of  our  ultimate  financial  success ; 
but  by  your  support  we  have  carried  it  through. 
When  the  man  in  the  street  sneers  at  you,  you 
can  remind  him  that  it  was  an  undertaking  he 
had  not  the  courage  to  enter  upon  himself  as  one 
of  the  British  people  ;  the  Imperial  Government 
would  not  touch  it ;  the  Cape  Government  was 
too  poor  to  do  it.  It  has  been  done  by  you,  and 
the  enterprise  has  succeeded,  and  I  do  not  think 
anybody  would  say  they  would  like  to  see  that 
portion  of  the  world  under  another  flag  now. 
And  it  has  been  done,  which  the  English  people 
like,  without  expense  to  their  exchequer  - 
(laughter) — and  we  have  had  to  combine  this 
expansion  with  the  commercial  or  else  we  should 


172  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

not  have  succeeded.  Don't  be  annoyed  with  me, 
gentlemen.  Let  us  look  at  the  facts.  There  was 
that  development  of  East  Africa  based,  if  I  might 
put  it,  on  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  cocoanut-tree.  (Laughter.) 
Well,  I  saw  Sir  William  Mackinnon  at  the  end, 
and  it  almost  killed  him.  He  got  no  support 
from  the  public.  We  are  very  practical  people. 
Take  my  own  case.  Take  that  of  the  trans- 
continental telegraph.  It  will  be  of  great  assist- 
ance to  the  Chartered  Company,  because  it  will 
put  our  territories  at  the  end  of  Tanganyika  in 
touch  with  us,  and  yet  the  bulk  of  the  public 
did  hot  help  us.  I  think  the  public  had  really 
no  grounds  to  subscribe.  But  I  will  take  two 
corporations  I  am  connected  with.  Well,  one 
gave  nothing,  and  with  the  other  an  indignant 
shareholder  wrote  to  the  Board  to  inquire  who 
paid  for  the  paper  and  envelopes  of  the  circular. 
(Laughter.)  Now,  I  mention  this  to  show  what 
an  eminently  practical  people  we  are.  Unless 
we  had  made  this  undertaking  with  its  com- 
mercial difficulties,  we  should  have  failed,  and 
that  is  the  best  reply  to  those  who  sneer  at  us 
and  call  us  a  set  of  company-mongers.  (Cheers.) 
We  have  been  fortunate  in  forming  an  imagina- 
tive conception,  and  succeeded,  and  really,  if  you 
look  at  it,  within  a  period — well,  I  would  say,  it 
is  hardly  equal  to  the  term  allotted  to  an  Oxford 
student.  (Laughter.)  Commercially,  if  you 
think  it  out,  I  think  you  will  go  away  from  this 
room — no,  I  don't  think  you  will  go  away  to  sell 
your  shares,  for  it  is  fair  business.  When  you 
went  into  our  Company  you  went  into  speculative 
mining  ;  it  is  certainly  not  Consols  or  French 
Rentes.  There  are  no  more  claims  for  fresh 
money,  and  our  two  millions  represent  a  very 


HIS  SPEECHES.  173 

large  interest  in  all  the  gold  that  will  be  found 
practically  between  Mafeking  and  Tanganyika  in 
a  highly  mineralised  country  —  (cheers)  —  and, 
therefore,  if  you  are  satisfied  with  the  commercial, 
I  really  think  you  might  give  a  help  in  the 
political.  I  do  hope  in  the  ensuing  election  you 
will  do  your  best  to  see  my  clause  carried,  because 
you  will  do  by  that  a  really  practical  thing,  and 
take  the  very  first  practical  step  that  has  been 
done  towards  the  promotion  of  the  Union  of  the 
Empire."  (Loud  cheers.) 

It  is  impossible  to  attempt  to  summarise  the  whole  of 
Mr.  Rhodes's  speeches  here,  but  it  is  equally  impossible  to  close 
this  section  without  noticing  in  passing  one  of  the  most  famous, 
and  in  some  respects  the  most  unfortunate  of  all  his  speeches, 
which  he  delivered  immediately  after  the  relief  of  Kimberley, 
on  February  igih,  1900.  It  was  in  this  speech  that  Mr.  Rhodes 
made  use  of  the  famous  phrase  so  constantly  quoted  against 
him,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  British  flag  as  a  "  commercial 
asset."  This  much  misquoted  passage  occurs  in  a  speech 
addressed  to  the  shareholders  of  the  De  Beers  Company. 
Mr.  Rhodes  had  been  using  the  resources  of  the  De  Beers 
shareholders  without  stint  in  the  defence  of  Kimberley  against 
the  Boers.  He  was  appealing  to  shareholders,  many  of  whom, 
being  French  and  Germans,  regarded  the  whole  British  policy 
in  South  Africa  with  unconcealed  detestation.  His  speech 
was  primarily  intended  to  reconcile  them  to  an  employment 
of  the  funds  for  political  purposes  to  which  they  objected. 
He  had  also  to  deal  with  other  shareholders,  whose  only 
concern  was  their  dividends.  This  is  quite  clear  from  the 
opening  passages  of  his  speech.  He  said  : — 

"  Shareholders  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes — those  who  are  imaginative  and  those 
who  are  certainly  unimaginative.  To  the  latter 
class  the  fact  of  our  connection  with  the  Char- 
tered Company  has  been  for  many  years  past  a 
great  trial.  Human  beings  are  very  interesting. 


174  POLITICAL   AND  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

There  are  those  of  the  unimaginative  type  who 
pass  their  whole  lives  in  filling  money-bags,  and 
when  they  are  called  upon,  perhaps  more  hurriedly 
than  they  desire,  to  retire  from  this  world,  what 
they  leave  behind  is  often  dissipated  by  their 
offspring  on  wine,  women  and  horses.  Of  these 
purely  unimaginative  gentlemen,  whose  sole  con- 
cern is  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  I  have  a  large 
number  as  my  shareholders." 

It  was  to  these  unimaginative  persons,  especially  to  the 
foreign  shareholders,  that  he  addressed  his  vindication  of  the 
transformation  of  a  purely  commercial  company  unconnected 
with  politics,  into  warriors  fighting  for  the  preservation  of  our 
homes  and  property. 

"  I  have  to  tell  the  shareholders  in  Europe," 
he  said,  "that  we  have  for  the  last  four  months 
devoted  the  energies  of  our  company  to  the 
defence  of  the  town." 

After  describing  what  had  been  done  by  the  citizen  soldiers 
of  Kimberley,  he  concluded  his  speech  by  the  following 
passage : — 

"  Finally,  I  would  submit  to  you  this  thought, 
that  when  we  look  back  upon  the  troubles  we 
have  gone  through,  and  especially  all  that  has 
been  suffered  by  the  women  and  children,  we 
have  this  satisfaction — that  we  have  done  our 
best  to  preserve  that  which  is  the  best  com- 
mercial asset  in  the  world — the  protection  of  Her 
Majesty's  flag." 

When  Mr.  Rhodes  came  back  from  Kimberley,  I  had  a 
talk  with  him  upon  this  subject.  He  said  that  it  was  very 
ridiculous  the  way  people  had  abused  him  for  the  passage 
about  the  flag.  If  they  had  considered  the  circumstances  in 
which  the  speech  was  made,  they  would  have  seen  the  reason 
for  it. 


HfS  SPEECHES.  175 

"  People  talked  as  if  I  were  making  a  political 
speech,  or  speaking  as  a  politician.  I  was  not. 
1  was  addressing  a  meeting  of  the  De  Beers 
shareholders,  half  of  whom  were  Frenchmen. 
Of  course,  the  number  of  people  present  at  the 
meeting  was  small,  but  1  was  addressing  the 
French  shareholders  through  the  press.  French 
feeling  is  very  strong  against  England,  and 
the  French  shareholders  might  naturally  feel 
aggrieved.  They  had  lost  an  enormous  sum  of 
money  from  the  cessation  of  industry  during  the 
war.  The  part  which  the  De  Beers  Company 
had  taken  in  defending  Kimberley  was  another 
point  upon  which,  as  shareholders,  they  might 
fairly  take  an  exception.  In  order  to  parry  their 
objection  and  to  show  to  them  that,  after  all,  I 
was  really  looking  after  their  business,  I  finished 
up  with  a  declaration  that  I  had  been  spending 
their  money  in  defending  what  was,  after  all,  the 
greatest  commercial  asset  in  the  world,  the  pro- 
tection of  the  British  flag.  It  was  a  perfectly 
true  thing,  and  it  seemed  to  me  a  very  useful 
thing  to  say  in  the  circumstances.  I  was 
addressing,  not  the  world  at  large,  but  De  Beers 
shareholders.  I  had  my  French  shareholders  in 
my  eye  all  the  time." 


1 76 


Mr.   Rhodes's  last  Portrait. 


177 


PART   III. 


THE   CLOSING   SCENE. 

MR.  RHODES  died  at  Muizenberg,  a  small  cottage  on 
the  sea-coast  near  Cape  Town,  on  March  26,  1902. 
The  result  of  the  post  mortem  examination  showed 
that  with  the  exception  of  the  aneurism  of  the 
heart,  which  caused  an  immense  distension  of  that 
organ,  he  was  in  a  perfectly  healthy  state.  The 
heart  trouble  had  been  with  him  from  his  youth. 
When  he  attained  manhood  it  abated  somewhat, 
but  after  his  fortieth  year  it  returned,  and  gradually 
increased  until  his  death,  which  did  not  come  to 
his  release  until  after  some  weeks  of  very  agonis- 
ing suffering.  He  was  conscious  to  the  very  last, 
and  attempted  to  transact  business  within  a  week 
of  his  decease.  He  was  attended  constantly  by 
his  old  and  faithful  friend,  Dr.  Jameson,  whose 
name  was  the  last  articulate  word  which  escaped 
from  his  lips. 

All  the  deep-seated  tenderness  of  his  nature, 
which  led  Bramwell  Booth  to  describe  him  as 
having  a  great  human  heart  hungering  for  love, 
found  expression  in  these  last  days  whenever 
he  spoke  or  thought  of  Dr.  Jameson.  The  affec- 
tion which  Mr.  Rhodes  entertained  for  the  Doctor 
dated  far  back  in  the  early  days  when  they  were 
at  Kimberley  together,  and  never  varied  through 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  eventful  career.  At  one 
time,  when  Dr.  Jameson  was  ill  and  in  prison, 
bearing  the  punishment  for  an  enterprise  the  pre- 


178  THE   CLOSING   SCENE. 

cipitation  of  which  was  due  to  incentives  from  a 
much  higher  than  any  African  quarter,  he  was 
troubled  by  the  maddening  fear  that  Mr.  Rhodes 
had  not  forgiven  him  for  the  upsetting  of  his 
apple-cart.  But  Mr.  Rhodes  was  not  a  man 
who  wore  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve.  He 
schooled  himself  to  repress  manifestations  of 
affection,  but  an  incident  for  which  Lord  Grey  is  my 
authority  shows  how  unfounded  were  Dr.  Jame- 
son's misgivings.  If  Mr.  Rhodes  loved  anything 
in  the  world,  he  loved  his  house,  and  Groote 
Schuur  was  the  nest  which  he  had  built  for  himself 
in  the  shadow  of  Table  Mountain,  which  he  had 
filled  with  all  manner  of  historic  and  literary 
treasures.  When  the  year  1896 — the  year  of  the 
ill-fated  Raid — was  drawing  to  a  close,  Lord  Grey, 
then  Administrator  of  Rhodesia,  received  a  tele- 
gram early  in  the  morning  to  the  effect  that 
Groote  Schuur  had  been  burnt  down  with  most 
of  its  contents.  Knowing  how  intensely  Mr. 
Rhodes  was  attached  to  his  home,  Lord  Grey 
shrank  from  breaking  the  news  to  him  until  they 
were  alone.  He  feared  that  Mr.  Rhodes  might 
lose  his  self-control.  They  rode  out  together  that 
morning,  and  not  until  they  were  far  out  in  the 
country  did  Lord  Grey  think  of  telling  the  evil 
tidings  which  arrived  that  morning.  As  they  rode 
together  Mr.  Rhodes  began  talking  of  the 
misfortunes  of  the  twelve  months  then  drawing 
to  a  close.  Nothing  but  ill-luck  had  attended  him 
for  the  whole  course  ;  he  did  not  think  that  his 
luck  could  mend,  and  could  only  hope  that  the 
new  year  would  dawn  without  any  further  disaster. 
Lord  Grey  said  to  him  gently— 

"  Well,  Mr.  Rhodes,  I  am  very  sorry,  but  I 
am  afraid  I  must  give  you  a  rather  ugly  knock." 

Mr.  Rhodes  reined  up  his  horse,  and  turning 


THE   CLOSING  SCEXE. 


179 


to  his   companion   he  exclaimed,   his  face    livid, 
white  and  drawn  with  an  agony  of  dread— 


"  Good  heavens  !     Out  with  it,  man 
has  happened  ?  " 


What 


i8o  THE   CLOSING  SCENE. 

"  Well,"  said  Lord  Grey,  "  I  am  sorry  to  tell  you 
that  Groote  Schuur  was  burnt  down  last  night." 

The  tense  look  of  anguish  disappeared  from 
Rhodes's  face.  He  heaved  a  great  sigh,  and 
exclaimed  with  inexpressible  relief — 

"  Oh,  thank  God,  thank  God  !  I  thought 
you  were  going  to  tell  me  that  Dr.  Jim  was  dead. 
The  house  is  burnt  down — well,  what  does  that 
matter  ?  We  can  always  rebuild  the  house,  but 
if  Dr.  Jim  had  died  I  should  never  have  got 
over  it." 

Only  those  who  knew  what  Groote  Schuur 
was  to  Mr.  Rhodes  can  understand  the  depth 
and  fervour  of  a  human  attachment  which  enabled 
him  to  bear  the  loss  of  his  house  not  merely  with 
equanimity  but  absolute  gratitude. 

It  is  a  very  striking  illustration  of  the  practical 
value  of  one  of  Mr.  Rhodes's  favourite  sayings  :— 

"  Do  the  comparative.  Always  do  the  com- 
parative." 

By  this  he  meant,  whenever  you  are  over- 
taken by  a  misfortune  or  plunged  into  dire 
tribulation,  you  can  find  consolation  by  reflecting 
how  much  worse  things  might  have  been,  or  how 
much  greater  had  been  the  misery  suffered  by 
others.  I  well  remember  Mr.  Rhodes  telling  me 
how  he  had  frequently  supported  himself  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  trying  crisis  of  his  career, 
when  everything  seemed  to  be  lost.  He  used 
to  say— 

"  When  I  was  inclined  to  take  too  tragic  a 
view  of  the  consequences  of  apparently  imminent 
disaster,  I  used  to  reflect  what  the  old  Roman 
Emperors  must  have  felt  when  (as  often 
happened)  their  legions  were  scattered,  and 
they  fled  from  a  stricken  field,  knowing  that 
they  had  lost  the  empire  of  the  world.  To 


THE   CLOSING  SCENE.  181 

such  men  at  such  times  it  must  have  seemed 
as  if  their  world  was  going  to  pieces  around 
them.  But  after  all,"  he  said,  "  the  sun  rose 
next  day,  the  river  flowed  between  its  banks, 
and  the  world  went  on  very  much  the  same 
despite  it  all.  And,  thinking  of  this,  I  used  to 
go  to  bed  and  sleep  like  a  child." 

A  still  more  remarkable  instance  of  the 
deliberate  way  in  which  he  practised  the  maxim 
was  also  told  me.  When  Mr.  Rhodes  came 
home  after  the  Raid  he  fully  expected  to  be  sent 
to  prison,  and  amused  himself  during  the  voyage 
by  drawing  up  a  scheme  of  reading  which  he 
hoped  to  carry  out  during  the  seclusion  of  the 
gaol ;  but  it  was  not  until  after  his  death  that  I 
heard  from  Lord  Grey  how  he  proposed  to  nerve 
himself  for  the  ordeal  of  imprisonment. 

"  Do  the  comparative  !  "  Mr.  Rhodes  said  to 
Lord  Grey  one  day  when  they  were  together  in 
Rhodesia.  "  Always  do  the  comparative  !  You 
will  find  it  a  great  comfort.  For  instance,  if  I 
had  been  sent  to  gaol  after  the  Raid,  I  had  fully 
made  up  my  mind  what  I  would  do.  I  should 
have  gone  down  to  the  Tower  before  I  was 
locked  up ;  I  should  have  gone  to  the  cell  in 
which  poor  old  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  imprisoned 
before  he  was  led  out  to  be  beheaded  ;  I  should 
have  gone  to  the  cell  and  thought  of  all  that 
Raleigh  suffered  in  the  long  years  in  which  he 
lay  there.  And  then,  afterwards,  when  I  was  in 
my  comfortable  cell  in  Holloway  Gaol,  I  should 
have  consoled  myself  every  day  by  thinking,  'After 
all,  you  are  not  so  badly  off  as  poor  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  in  that  cell  of  his  in  the  Tower.' ' 

On  another  occasion,  when  he  had  been  made 
wretched  by  the  attacks  made  upon  him  in  the 
Cape  Parliament  for  his  share  in  the  Raid,  when 


The  Lying-in-State. 


The  Procession  Passing  the  Memorial  Column,  Bulawayo. 
THE    FUNERAL    OF    MR.    RHODES. 


THE   CLOSING  SCENE.  183. 

it  seemed  as  if  he  had  lost  everything  for  which 
he  had  striven,  and  had  nothing  to  look  forward 
to  but  punishment  and  disgrace,  he  burst  into 
Lord  Grey's  room  one  morning  and  ex- 
claimed — 

"  Do  you  know,  Grey,  I  have  just  been  think- 
ing that  you  have  never  been  sufficiently  grateful 
for  having  been  born  an  Englishman.  Just  think 
for  a  moment,"  he  went  on,  "  what  it  is  to  have 
been  born  an  Englishman  in  England.  Think 
how  many  millions  of  men  there  are  in  this  world 
to-day  who  have  been  born  Chinese  or  Hindus  or 
Kaffirs  ;  but  you  were  not  born  any  of  these,  you 
were  born  an  Englishman.  And  that  is  not  all. 
You  are  just  over  forty  (which  was  about  Rhodes's 
own  age  at  that  time),  and  you  have  a  clean, 
healthy  body.  Now  think  of  the  odds  there  are 
against  anyone  having  those  three  things — to  be 
born  an  Englishman,  to  be  over  forty,  and  to 
have  a  clean,  healthy  body.  Why,  the  chances 
are  enormous  against  it,  and  yet  you  have  all 
three.  What  enormous  chances  there  are  against 
you  having  drawn  all  these  prizes  in  the  lottery  of 
life,  and  yet  you  never  think  of  them." 

"I  could  have  hugged  the  poor  old  chap,"  said 
Lord  Grey,  "  for  it  was  so  evident  that  he  had 
been  doing  the  comparative  by  way  of  consoling 
himself,  and  reflecting  that  in  the  midst  of  all  his 
misfortunes  there  were  some  things  which  no  one 
could  take  away  from  him  ;  and  then  he  would 
burst  into  my  room  to  pour  out  his  soul  to  me  in 
that  fashion." 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  very  much  given  to  musing, 
and  even  talking  to  himself  upon  the  most  serious 
subjects.  Mr.  Rudd  told  me  that  in  Mr.  Rhodes's 
early  days  nothing  delighted  him  more  than,  when 
the  day's  work  was  done,  to  get  a  friend  or  two  into 


1 84  THE   CLOSING  SCENE. 

his  tent  and  discuss  questions  of  philosophy  and 
theology.  Sir  Charles  Warren  has  told  us  how, 
when  Rhodes  was  quite  a  young  man,  he  and 
Warren  had  a  long  debate  over  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  and  differed  hopelessly  upon  the  doctrine 
of  predestination.  His  favourite  author  was  said 
to  have  been  Gibbon,  but  what  served  him  as  a 
pocket-Bible  was  the  writings  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 
As  Gordon  never  went  anywhere  without  his  little 
pocket  edition  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  so  Rhodes 
never  left  behind  him  his  pocket  edition  of  Marcus 
Aurelius.  His  copy  was  dog-eared  and  scored 
with  pencil  marks,  showing  how  constantly  he  had 
used  it.  But  he  never  quite  attained  to  the  serene 
philosophy  of  the  Imperial  philosopher.  He 
shrank  from  death,  not  so  much  from  the  fear 
of  anything  after  death,  but  because  it  was  the 
arrest  of  activity,  the  cessation  of  the  strenuous 
life  which  he  had  always  lived.  He  was  ever  a 
doer.  Once  an  acquaintance  had  remarked  to 
him,  when  he  returned  from  London  to  South 
Africa — 

"  I  suppose  you  found  London  Society  very 
lively?" 

To  whom  Mr.  Rhodes  replied— 

"  When  I  have  a  big  thing  on  hand  I  don't 
dine  out.  I  do  that,  and  nothing  else." 

It  was  this  feeling  which  led  him  to  cling 
so  passionately  to  life.  From  the  day  when 
his  heart  suddenly  gave  way,  and  he  fell  from 
his  horse  and  shattered  his  shoulder,  he  felt 
that  he  lived  under  the  sword  of  Damocles, 
and  at  any  moment  the  hair  which  suspended 
it  might  break  and  all  would  be  over.  It  was 
this  overmastering  passion  of  energetic  vitality 
which  prompted  his  despairing  cry  when  he  lay  on 
his  death-bed — "  So  much  to  do,  so  little  done  !  " 


THE   CLOSING  SCEXE.  185 

One  of  the  passages  which  he  marked  in  the 
book  which  lay  ever  near  his  hand  contained  the 
reflections  which  Marcus  Aurelius  addressed  to 
those  who  dreaded  the  approach  of  death  :— 

You  have  been  a  citizen  of  the  great  world-city.  Five 
years  or  fifty,  what  matters  it  ?  To  every  man  his  due  as  law 
allots.  Why  then  protest?  No  tyrant  gives  you  your 
dismissal,  no  unjust  judge,  but  nature,  who  gave  you  the 
admission.  It  is  like  the  praetor  discharging  some  player 
whom  he  has  engaged — "  But  the  five  acts  are  not  complete  ; 
I  have  played  but  three."  Good :  life's  drama,  look  you,  is 
complete  in  three.  The  completeness  is  in  his  hands  who 
first  authorised  your  composition,  and  now  your  dissolution. 
Neither  was  your  work.  Serenely  take  your  leave ;  serene  as 
he  who  gives  you  the  discharge. ' 

After  the  siege  of  Kimberley,  in  1900,  Mr. 
Rhodes  told  me  he  thought  he  had  fourteen  years 
more  to  live ;  and  that  time  seemed  to  him  far 
too  short  to  accomplish  all  that  he  had  in  his 
mind  to  do.  Few  of  his  friends  ventured  to 
anticipate  for  him  so  long  a  lease  of  life.  The 
result  proved  that  their  forebodings  were  only  too 
well  justified.  Instead  of  fourteen  years,  he  lived 
barely  two. 

There  is,  however,  something  consoling  in  the 
heroism  with  which  he  risked  and  lost  his  life  at 
the  end.  It  is  probable  that  if  he  had  not  returned 
to  South  Africa  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  he 
might  have  lived  for  several  years.  His  medical 
advisers  and  his  most  intimate  friends  were  aghast 
when  he  announced  his  determination  to  return 
to  South  Africa  to  give  evidence  in  the  case  of 
Princess  Radziwill. 

Mr.  Rhodes,  although  unmarried,  was  singu- 
larly free  from  any  scandal  about  women.  As 
might  be  imagined,  being  a  millionaire,  a  bachelor, 
and  a  man  of  charming  personality,  he  was  abso- 


1 86 


THE   CLOSING  SCEXE.  187 

lutely  hunted  by  many  ladies  ;  but  the  pursuit 
seemed  to  inspire  him  with  an  almost  amusing 
horror  of  ever  finding-  himself  alone  with  them. 
Princess  Radziwill  was  far  the  most  brilliant, 
audacious,  and  highly  placed  of  these  huntresses, 
and  Mr.  Rhodes  was  correspondingly  on  his 
guard  against  "the  old  Princess,"  as  he  used  to 
call  her.  But  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in 
the  infamous  suggestions  that  have  been  made 
concerning  their  relations.  He  regarded  her  as 
a  thorough-paced  intriguer,  with  whom  he  was 
determined  that  his  name  should  never  be 
associated.  Had  he  not  had  so  much  regard 
for  his  reputation  he  might  have  been  living  at 
this  hour.  One  of  his  friends,  who  knew  the 
state  of  his  health,  implored  him  to  meet  her 
forged  bills  rather  than  expose  his  life  to  what, 
as  the  result  proved,  was  a  fatal  danger.  "  What 
is  ,£24,000  to  you,"  said  his  friend,  "  compared 
with  the  risk  avoided  ?  "  "  It's  not  the  money," 
said  Mr.  Rhodes,  "  but  no  risk  will  prevent  me 
clearing  my  character  of  any  stain  in  connection 
with  that  woman." 

"You  are  sending  him  to  his  death,"  said 
Dr.  Jameson,  as  he  prepared  to  accompany  his 
friend  on  the  last  voyage  to  the  Cape.  The 
passage  was  exceptionally  rough.  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  once  thrown  out  of  his  berth  on  to  the 
floor  of  his  cabin.  When  he  arrived  in  South 
Africa  it  was  with  the  mark  of  death  upon 
him.  His  evidence  had  to  be  taken  at  Groote 
Schuur  ;  but  he  never  showed  any  sign  of 
regret  that  he  had  responded  to  the  summons 
of  the  Courts.  It  was  his  duty,  and  he  did  it, 
and  did  it,  as  the  result  proved,  at  the  cost  of 
his  life. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  he  who  had    never 


1 88  THE   CLOSING   SCENE. 

harmed  a  woman  in  his  life  met  his  death  in 
clearing  his  name  from  the  aspersions  of  a 
woman  whom,  out  of  sheer  good-heartedness, 
he  had  befriended  in  time  of  need. 

Despite  the  difficulty  of  breathing  caused  by 
the  pressure  upon  his  lungs  and  the  agonising 
pain  from  which  he  suffered,  his  mind  was  vigorous 
and  his  interest  in  all  questions  relating  to  South 
Africa  unabated  to  the  last.  Nothing  but  his 
passionate  will  to  live  kept  him  alive.  When  at 
last  he  was  compelled  to  admit  that  his  end  was 
approaching,  he  still  clung  to  the  hope  that  his 
life  might  be  prolonged  so  as  to  enable  him  once 
more  to  return  to  England  before  he  died.  He 
wished  to  come  home.  A  cabin  was  taken  for 
him  on  the  steamer,  but  when  the  hour  came  it 
was  impossible  to  remove  him  from  the  room  in 
which,  propped  up  with  pillows,  he  sat  await- 
ing the  end.  Messages  from  the  King  and 
Queen  and  from  friends  all  over  the  world  were 
cabled  to  the  sick-room  at  Muizenberg,  and  those 
loving  messages  of  sympathy  and  affection  helped 
to  console  him  in  the  dark  hours  of  anguish. 

During  the  whole  of  these  terrible  weeks  there 
was  only  one  occasion  on  which  he  spoke  on  those 
subjects  which  in  the  heyday  of  his  youth  were 
constantly  present  to  his  mind.  On  one  occasion, 
after  a  horrible  paroxysm  of  pain  had  convulsed 
him  with  agony,  he  was  heard,  when  he  regained 
his  breath  and  the  spasm  had  passed,  to  be  hold- 
ing a  strange  colloquy  with  his  Maker.  The 
dying  man  was  talking  to  God,  and  not  merely 
talking  to  God,  but  himself  assuming  both  parts 
of  the  dialogue.  The  attendant  in  the  sick 
chamber  instinctively  recalled  those  chapters  in 
the  book  of  Job  in  which  Job  and  his  friends  dis- 
cussed together  the  apparent  injustice  of  the 


THE   CLOSING  SCEXE.  189 

Governor  of  the  world.  It  was  strange  to  hear 
Mr.  Rhodes  stating  first  his  case  against  the 
Almighty,  and  then  in  reply  stating  what  he  con- 
sidered his  Maker's  case  against  himself.  But  so 
the  argument  went  on. 

"  What  have  I  done,"  he  asked,  "  to  be  tor- 
tured thus  ?  If  I  must  go  hence,  why  should  I  be 
subjected  to  this  insufferable  pain  ?  " 

And  then  he  answered  his  own  question,, 
going  over  his  own  shortcomings  and  his  own 
offences,  to  which  he  again  in  his  own  person 
replied  ;  and  so  the  strange  and  awful  colloquy 
went  on,  until  at  last  the  muttering  ceased,  and 
there  was  silence  once  more. 

Beyond  this  there  is  no  record  of  what  he 
thought  or  what  he  felt  when  he  fared  forth  to 
make  that  pilgrimage  which  awaits  us  all  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  He  had  far 
too  intense  vitality  ever  to  tolerate  the  idea  of 
extinction. 

"  I'm  not  an  atheist,"  he  once  said  to  me 
impatiently  ;  "  not  at  all.  But  I  don't  believe 
in  the  idea  about  going  to  heaven  and  twanging 
a  harp  all  day.  No.  I  wish  I  did  sometimes  ; 
but  I  don't.  That  kind  of  aesthetical  idea 
pleases  you  perhaps ;  it  does  not  please  me. 
But  I'm  not  an  atheist." 

"  I  find  I  am  human,"  he  wrote  on  one  occa- 
sion, "  but  should  like  to  live  after  my  death." 

And  in  his  conversation  he  frequently  referred 
to  his  returning  to  the  earth  to  see  how  his 
ideas  were  prospering,  and  what  was  being  done 
with  the  fortune  which  he  had  dedicated  to  the 
service  of  posterity.  Some  of  his  talk  upon  the 
subject  of  the  after-life  was  very  quaint,  and 
almost  child-like  in  its  simplicity.  His  ideas,  so 
far  as  he  expressed  them  to  me,  always  assumed 


190  THE   CLOSING  SCENE. 

that  he  would  be  able  to  recognise  and  con- 
verse with  those  who  had  gone  before,  and 
that  both  he  and  they  would  have  the  keenest 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  this  planet.  This  planet, 
in  some  of  his  moods,  seemed  too  small  a  sphere 
for  his  exhaustless  energy. 

"  The  world,"  he  said  to  me  on  one  occasion, 
"  is  nearly  all  parcelled  out,  and  what  there  is 
left  of  it  is  being  divided  up,  conquered,  and 
colonised.  To  think  of  these  stars,"  he  said, 
41  that  you  see  overhead  at  night,  these  vast 
worlds  which  we  can  never  reach.  I  would 
annex  the  planets  if  I  could  ;  I  often  think  of  that. 
It  makes  me  sad  to  see  them  so  clear  and  yet 
so  far." 

Since  Alexander  died  at  Babylon,  sighing  for 
fresh  worlds  to  conquer,  has  there  ever  been  such 
a  cry  from  the  heart  of  mortal  man  ? 

When  the  end  was  imminent,  his  brother  was 
brought  to  the  bedside.  He  recognised  him,  and 
clasped  his  hand.  Then  releasing  his  grasp,  the 
dying  man  stretched  his  feeble  hand  to  the 
Doctor,  and  murmuring  "  Jameson  !  "  the  greatest 
of  Africanders  was  dead. 

After  death  his  features  regained  that  classic 
severity  of  outline  which  was  so  marked  in  the 
days  before  they  had  been  disfigured  by  the 
malady  to  which  he  succumbed.  After  lying  in 
state  at  Groote  Schuur,  the  funeral  service  was 
held  in  the  Cathedral  at  Cape  Town,  and  then, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  his  will,  his 
remains  were  taken  northward  to  the  Matoppos, 
where,  near  the  great  African  chief  Umsilikatse, 
he  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  mountain-top  which 
he  had  named  "The  View  of  the  World." 
Seldom  has  there  been  a  more  imposing  and 
yet  more  simple  procession  to  the  tomb.  For 


192  THE   CLOSING  SCENE. 

750  miles  on  that  northward  journey  the  progress 
of  the  funeral  train  was  accompanied  by  all  the 
outward  and  visible  signs  of  mourning  which  as 
a  rule  are  only  to  be  witnessed  on  the  burial  days 
of  kings.  At  every  blockhouse  which  guarded 
the  line  the  troops  turned  out  to  salute  the  silent 
dead  to  whose  resistless  energy  was  due  the 
line  over  which  they  stood  on  guard.  When 
Bulawayo  was  reached,  the  whole  city  was  in 
mourning.  But  a  few  years  before  it  had  been 
the  kraal  of  Lobengula,  one  of  the  last  lairs 
of  African  savagery.  Only  the  previous  year  a 
memorial  service  had  been  held  there  in  honour 
of  President  McKinley,  and  now  the  citizens  were 
summoned  to  a  still  more  mournful  service  With 
an  energy  worthy  of  the  founder  of  their  State,  a 
road  was  constructed  from  Bulawayo  to  the 
summit  of  the  Matoppos.  Along  this,  followed 
by  the  whole  population,  the  body  of  Mr.  Rhodes 
was  drawn  to  his  last  resting-place.  The  coffin 
was  lowered  into  the  tomb,  the  mourners,  white 
and  black,  filed  past  the  grave,  and  then  a  huge 
block  of  granite,  weighing  over  three  tons,  sealed 
the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre  from  all  mortal  eyes. 
There,  on  the  Matoppos,  lies  the  body  of  Cecil 
Rhodes  ;  but  who  can  say  what  far  regions  of  the 
earth  have  not  felt,  and  will  not  hereafter  feel,  a 
thrill  and  inspiration  of  the  mind  \vhich  for  less 
than  fifty  years  sojourned  in  that  tabernacle  of 
clay  ? 


193 


INDEX. 


Africa,  East,  Company  based  on  suppression  of  slave  trade  and  cultivation  of  cocoa- 
nut,  172 
Africa 


luture,  10  DC  aominaiea  oy  r>ruisn  gooas  clause  in  K.noaesian  constitution. 
Afrikander  Bond :    C.  J.  Rhodes  a  supporter  of,  144  ;  speech  in  defence  cf,  144-5 
America,  North.     See  United  States 
America,  South,  Republics  of,  to  be  controlled  by  Anglo-Saxons,  74 
American  scholarships,  why  given,  27  ;  how  to  be  awarded,  35  ;  character  of  students  at 

Oxford,  31,  35 

Aristotle,  influence  of,  on  C.  J.  Rhodes,  84,  98 
Athletics  insisted  on  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  36 

Australia,  South,  scholarships  for,  32  ;  Western,  scholarships  for,  32 
Australasia,  twenty-one  scholarships  for,  32  ;  representation  in  Parliament  desired  for, 

124-5 

Baker,  Herbert,  on  artistic  sense  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  16 

Bechuanaland :    C.  J.   Rhodes  opposed  to    Rev.  T.   Mackenzie,   80,    145 :    defends   his 

policy  in  the  Times,  1885,  138 ;  proposal  to  exclude  Dutch  from,  condemned,  147  ; 

Chartered  Company's  land  in,  153 
Beers.     See  De  Beers 

Beit,  Alfred,  joint  heir,  49,  108  ;  portrait  of,  65 
Bermudas,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Black,  W.  (i.,  on  German  veto  on  English  in  Heligoland,  36 
Bond.     See  Afrikander 

Booth,  General,  interviews  with  C.  J.  Rhodes,  89 ;  W.  Bramwell,  impressions,  91-3,  177 
Boyd,  Charles,  portrait  of,  123  :  "  C.  B."  letter  in  Spectator,  130 
Btilawayo,  park  for,  7  ;  railway  to  Westacre,  9 ;  value  of  land  in,   1895,  154 :   funeral 

procession  passing  through,  182,  192 

Cambridge,  scholarships  not  to  be  tenable  at,  108 

Campbell-Bannerman,  Sir  Henry,  131 

Canada,  six  scholarships  for,  32 

Cape  Colony,  twelve  scholarships  for,  32  :  the  first  Rhodes  scholars  from,  20 

Cape  Colony,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  desire  to  secure  Bechuanaland  for,  80,  138  ;  devotion  to  its 

paramountcy,  145,  148 
Chamberlain,  Joseph,  screened  by  C.  J.  Rhodes  about  Jameson  Conspiracy,  107,  178  ;  and 

devolution  quoted  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  124 ;  screened  by  South  African  Commute.;, 

130 
Charter,  the    British  South  African,  not    thought  of  when  subscription  given  to  C.  S. 

Parnell.  120 
Chartered  Company  :    Address  to  shareholders.  1895,  149-173  ;  financial  position  in  1895, 

153-162:   the  justification  and  necessity  for,  171 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  Bursar  of,  on  ^300  scholarships,  30 
Codicils  to  will  of  C.  J.   Rhodes,  Dalham  Hall,  45  ;  German  scholarships,  35  ;    Lord 

Milner,  49  ;  \V.  T.  Stead.  49  :  Dr.  Jameson,  49 
Cole,  Tennyson,  portrait  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  26  ;  of  Lord  Milner,  57 
Colonial  Secretary  heir  to  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  first  will,  61 ;  why  dropped,  62 
Colonial  self-government  defined  by  C.  J.  Rhodes  ;  practically  independent   Republics, 

143  ;  protected  but  not  controlled  by  Downing  Street,  145 
Colonies,  direct  representation  in   Parliament  advocated  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,   117,   124-5  '• 

suggested  financial  basis  of  representation,  125  ;   accepted  by  Mr.  Parnell,  126. 

See  Federation 
Colonies,  scholarships  for,  23  :    list  of  Colonies  included,  32  :  list  cf  Colonies  omitted,  33  -, 

character  of  students  from,  31  :  first  idea  of  founding,  105 
Country  landlords  "  the  strength  of  England,"  46 
Crown  Colony  objected  to  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  144-9 
Customs  union  of  South  Africa  anticipated  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  168 


194  INDEX. 

Dalham  Hall  Estate,  left  to  Colonel  and  Captain  Rhodes,  45 

Palston,  Rhodes  family  property  in,  117 

Darwin,  influence  of,  on  C.  J.  Rhodes,  88,  95 

De  Beers  Company,  address  to  shareholders  of,  in   1900,  173-4 :    resources  of,   used  to 

defend  Kimberley,  174-5  :  shareholders  unimaginative,  173  :  and  French,  175 
Dutch   goodwill   essential  to  British   Empire  in   South  Africa,   in,   113  ;    must  not  be 

trampled  on,  113  ;  compared  to  Irish  Nationalists  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  122  ;  loyalty  to 

Empire  of,   122,   144-8;    native  policy  of,  approved  by  C.  J.   Rhodes,  148;    C.  J. 

Rhodes   hardly   knew    how    to   choose   between   Dutch   and    British,    145.      See 

Afrikander  Bond 

Edinburgh  Medical  School,  24 

Egypt  :  C.  J.  Rhodes  subscribes  ,£5,000  to  Liberal  fund  on  understanding  "  no 
evacuation,"  132  ;  endangered  by  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Morley,  132,  133-4  : 
saved  by  Lord  Roseberv,  132,  169 

Empire,  retention  of  unity  of  British,  23  ;  furtherance  of,  501 ;  C.  J.  Rhodes  opposes  sever- 
ance of,  61,  62  ;  disintegration  hated,  135  ;  its  meaning  to  C.  J.  Rhodes,  140,  143 

Encumbered  estates,  evil  of,  46 

English  people  first  race  in  the  world,  58  ;  increase  of  their  numbers  desired,  58  ;  do  not 
know  their  greatness,  68  ;  waste  their  energies  on  local  matters,  68  :  a  conservative 
people,  124  ;  a  very  practical  people,  like  expansion  for  practical  business,  150, 
165  ;  will  govern  themselves,  164  :  eminently  practical,  172 

*'  English-speaking  Men,  To  all,"  Manifesto  in  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS,  95-102 

English-speaking  peoples,  union  of,  C.  J.  Rhodes  on,  27,  59,  61,  66,  73,  76 

Executors  of  last  will,  49 

Exeter  Hall,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  first  and  last  visit  to,  82  ;  opposed  to  its  native  policy,  148 

Expansion,  effect  of,  on  number  of  English  in  the  world,  58  ;  British  industry,  165  ; 
secure  open  markets,  166-171 

Federation  indispensable,  61,  73.  74,  118  ;  C.  J.  Rhodes's  devotion  to,  118  :  C.  J.  Rhodes's 
ideas  on,  124  ;  Mr.  Parnell's  assent  to,  126  ;  in  South  Africa,  143 

Financial  "  patent"  of  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  Rhodesia,  50  per  cent,  on  gold,  161 

Flag,  devotion  of  C.  J.  Rhodes  to,  145 ;  but  would  accept  Stars  and  Stripes,  62,  102  ; 
sympathises  with  Kruger's  devotion  to  Vierkleur,  143 

Fort,  Seymour,  describes  Inyanga,  9 

Free  Trade,  C.  J.  Rhodes  on,  66,  73,  76,  166-9 

<jarrett,  F.  E.,  describes  Groote  Schuur,  n  ;  portrait  of,  no;  his  authority  invoked  by 
C.  J.  Rhodes,  109 

Germany,  fifteen  scholarships  for,  35  ;  approved  by  Kaiser,  36 

•Gladstone,  Mr.,  his  Home  Rule  Bill  disliked  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  121,  131-2  ;  objects  to 
retention  of  Irish  members,  118  ;  concedes  their  retention,  129  :  but  insists  on 
reduction,  129  ;  Newcastle  speech  on  Egypt  alarms  C.  J.  Rhodes,  132  ;  regarded  by 
C.  J.  Rhodes  as  the  Liberal  Party,  132  ;  worked  on  by  J.  Morley,  136  ;  ignorant 
of  C.  J.  Rhodes's  views  on  Egypt,  135 

God,  on  the  existence  of,  89,  189;  on  His  will  towards  us,  89;  C.  J.  Rhodes's  medita- 
tions on,  89  and  onwards  ;  deathbed  colloquy  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  188-9 

Gordon,  Gen.,  and  C.  J.  Rhodes,  80,  142 

Grey,  Earl,  joint  heir,  49,  108  ;  portrait  of,  60  ;  anecdotes  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  178-183 

Greswell,  Rev.  W.,  letter  of,  29 

•Groote  Schuur,  view  from  hill  behind,  10 ;  bequeathed  to  public  as  residence  of  First 
Federal  Premier,  13;  described  by  F.  E.  Garrett,  n  ;  approach  to,  12;  the 
dining-room,  14;  the  drawing-room,  15;  fund  for  maintenance  of,  17;  the  hall, 
18 ;  the  library,  18  ;  the  billiard-room,  19 ;  the  panelled  room,  19 ;  marble  bath- 
room, 25  ;  Mr.  Rhodes's  bedroom,  25  ;  summer-house  at,  37 

Hague, 'Peace  Conference  at,  109 

Hammond,  John  Hays,  portrait  of,  156 :  report  on  Rhodesia,  159 

Harris,  Dr.  Rutherfoord,  portrait  of,  146 

Harrison,  President,  dimly  discerns  American  expansion,  74 

Hawksley,  B.  F.,  discusses  qualifications  for  scholarships,  38-44  :  portrait  of,  41  ;  joint 

heir  of  residue,  49  ;  why  made  joint  heir  in  1892,  104;  letter  from,  concerning  W.  T. 

Stead,  in 

Heirs  'joint)  under  last  will,  49 
Heligoland,  teaching  of  English  forbidden,  36 
Hofmeyr,  Jan  H.,  grave  of,  17 

Home  Rule,  the  key  to  Empire,  74,  113,  114,  118  ;  C.  J.  Rhodes's  correspondence  with 
'  C.  S.  Parnell,  118-130 

Imagination,  C.  J.  Rhodes  on  the  lack  of,  173-4 
Inyanga,  view  of  farm  at,  8  ;  fund  how  to  be  applied,  9-11 

Ireland:  C.  J.  Rhodes  subscribes  to  national  fund,  118-130;  to  convert  Home  Rule  Bill 
into  Federalism,  120  ;  Cape  experience  as  a  guide,  122 


INDEX.  195 

Jamaica,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Jameson,  Dr.,  trustee,  49  ;  portrait  of,  75,  123 ;  beloved  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  177  :    his  name 

last  word  uttered  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  190 
Jameson  Raid,  the,  and  C.  J.  Rhodes,  106-107,  130,  178 
Johnston,  Sir  H.  H.,  portrait  of,  129 

Kimberley."kBath  "(described,  16  ;  600  miles  by  waggon  to,  157;  siege  of,  173-5 

Landlords,  country,  C.  J.  Rhodes  on,  46 

Liberal  Party,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  relations  to,  1 17-138  ;  thinks  of  standing  as  Liberal  candidate 

in  1886,  117;  subscribes  to  Home  Rule,  120-130;  to  Liberal  Election  Fund,  130-9; 

"  My  ideas — Liberalism  plus  Empire,"  131  ;  ruining  itself  by  Little  Englandism,  131  ; 

future  of  England  must  be  Liberal,  133 
Life   "  three  days  at  the  seaside,"  88  ;   work,  the  essence  of  a  proper,  45  ;  speculations. 

by;C.  J.  Rhodes  on  a  future,  189 

Lindsay,  Rev.  Dr.,  suggests  voting  for  scholarships,  109 
"  Loafer,"  a,  hated  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  45 

Low,  Sidney,  his  summary  of  C.  J.  Rhodes's  conversations,  73 
Loxley,  Rev.  A.  P.,  on  C.  J.  Rhodes  and  religious  education,  94 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  and  C.  J.  Rhodes,  63,  66,  83 

Mackenzie,  Rev.  John,  opposed  to  policy  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  So 

"  Maiden  Tribute  of  Modern  Babylon,"  Rhodes  upon,  81 

Malima  river  feeds  Westacre  dam,  7 

"  Malindidzimo,"  name  of  C.  J.  Rhodes's  burial  place,  4 

Manicaland,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  estate  in,  9 

Marcus  Aurelius  constantly  read  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  184-185 

Markets,  open,  essential  to  England,  66,  68,  73,  134,  165-168 

Matabele  War,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  defence  of,  150 

Matoppos,  picture  of,  2  ;  description  of,  4 ;  burial  place  of  C.  J.  Rhodes  and  L'mzilikazi, 
4  ;  fund  for  maintaining,  5  ;  visited  by  C.  J.  Rhodes  and  Mr.  Wyndham,  5  ;  exca- 
vating grave  on,  186 

McNeil!,  Swift,  arranges  C.  J.  Rhodes's  subscription  to  Irish  National  Fund,  118,  120 

Michell,  Lewis  L.,  joint  heir,  49,  108  :  portrait  of,  67 

Military  service  insisted  on  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  47 

Mills,  Sir  Charles,  brings  C.  J.  Rhodes  and  W.  T.  Stead  together,  80-81 

Milner,  Lord,  joint  heir,  49,  108  ;  portrait  of,  57  ;  supported  by  C.  J.  Rhodes.  108-109 

Mitford,  Bertram,  description  of  Matoppos,  4 

Moral  qualities,  to  be  regarded  in  selecting  scholars,  36-44 

Morley,John  :  speech  about  Egypt  horrifies  C.  J.  Rhodes,  133  ;  importance  of,  minimised 
by  F.  Schnadhorst,  136 

"  Mosterts"  property  bequeathed  with  Groote  Schuur,  13 

Muizenberg,  near  Cape  Town,  where  C.  J.  Rhodes  died,  179 

Muller,  Iwan,  reports  to  C.  J.  Rhodes  on  new  University  education,  23  ;  on  country 
gentlemen,  46 

Napoleon  and  his  dirty  linen,  74 ;  C.  J.  Rhodes  on  his   dream  of  Universal   Monarchy, 

74 

Natal,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Native  policy  of  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  Africa:   "  We  must  be  lords  over  them,"  149 
Newfoundland,  three  scholarships  for,  32 
New  South  Wales,  three  scholarships  for,  32 
New  Zealand,  three  scholarships  for,  32 
Nyassaland,  cost  of  administration  borne  by  Chartered  Company  for  four  years,  151 

Ontario,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Oriel  College,  Oxford,  C.  J.  Rhodes,  M.A.,  1881,  20  ;  history  of,  20  ;  Sir  W.  Raleigh  at,. 
20 ;  other  Oriel  men,  21,  30  ;  income  of,  20  ;  bequests  to,  20-21  ;  and  St.  Mary  Hall, 
21  ;  views  of  a  senior  member  of,  22  ;  story  of  Keble  when  don  of,  22  ;  view 

Oxford,  scholarships  to  bs  tenable  at,  23,  108  ;  why,  23-24  ;  Medical  School,  27 

fall  Mall  Gazette,  C.  J.  Rhodes  and,  79  ;  exponent  of  his  ideas,  80-81 

Parnell,  C.  S.,  correspondence  between,  and  C.  J.  Rhodes,  120-130;  subscription  to,  125  ; 

regrets  and  withdraws  Navan  speech,  129 
"  Patent,"  C.  J.  Rhodes's  political,  68  :  financial,  161 
Peace,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  idea  of  how  it  might  be  attained,  59,  61,  66  ;  Conference  at  Hague, 

108-109 

Persia,  part  of  Anglo-Saxon  sphere,  74 
Pickering,  N.  E.,  heir  to  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  second  will,  62 
Portugal  to  come  under  Anglo-Saxon  control,  74 
Portuguese,  C.  J.  Rhodes  speaks  well  of,  163 


196 


INDEX. 


Preferential  tariff  strongly  advocated  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  63,  66 

Protection,    hard   fight,   66;    C.    J.    Rhodes's   speech   against,    166-171;    why   Colonies 
approve,  168  ;  his  safeguard  against,  167 

Quebec,  three  scholarships  for,  32 
Queensland,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Radziwill,  Princess,  forgeries  of,  185 

Raleigh,  Sir  W.,  at  Oriel,  20 ;  C.  J.  Rhodes  on  his  imprisonment,  181 
Reincarnation,  C.  J.  Rhodes  indifferent  to,  88 

Republics — British  self-governing  Colonies  practically  independent,  143 
Residue  of  the  Rhodes  estate  left  to  joint-heirs,  49 
REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS  founded  in  1890,  approved  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  99 
Rhodes,  Captain  Ernest,  heir  of  Dalham  Hall,  45 
Rhodes,  Colonel  Frank,  heir  of  Dalham  Hall,  45 
Rhodes,  Cecil  John  : 

Anecdotes  of:  Places  Zimbabye  stone  hawk  in  Council  Chamber,  16  ;  tried  to  visit 
W.  T.  Stead  in  gaol,  81  ;  attends  indignation  meeting  in  Exeter  Hall,  81  ;  and 
General  Gordon,  142  ;  on  hearing  of  the  burning  of  Groote  Schuur,  180 ;  Lord 
Grey's  stories  of,  181 

Appreciations  of:  by  F.  E.  Garrett,  n  ;  Herbert  Baker,  16  ;  W.  T.  Stead,  51  ;  "  Money 
King  of  Modern  World,"  55  ;  a  mystic,  56  ;  W.  T.  Stead's  first  impressions  of,  82  ; 
Roman  Emperor  plus  Ironside  plus  Loyola,  83;    "A  Grey  Archangel,"  139;  by 
the  Booths,  89-93,  J77  '•  Sir  C.  Warren,  117 
Autograph  of,  69,  116 

Burial  of,  on  Matoppos,  2,  182,  186,  190,  192 
Characteristics  of:    "I  find  I  am  still  human,' 


scanaai,  105-7. 
Conversations  with  Iwan  Mi'iller,  23,  46  ;  Sidney  Low,  73  ;   W.   T.   Stead,  79-115,   190; 

with  Gen.  Gordon,  142 
Correspondence  of,  with  W.  T.   Stead,  64,  98,  99,  135  ;  in   the    Times,  1885,  138  ;  with 

Mr.  Parnell,  120-130  ;  with  Mr.  Schnadhorst,  130-7 

Death  of,  at  Muizenberg,  March  26,  1902,  177  ;  how  precipitated,  187  ;  his  last  word,  190 
Personal  history  of:   1881,  M.A.,  Oxford,  20;  draws  up  draft  of  ideas,   1877,   58  ;  first 


tales  on  object  of  life,  58,  85  ;  dreams  of  entering  Parliament,  117  ;  visits  Salvation 
Army,  89-93  ;  conceives  idea  of  scholarships,  105  ;   Jameson  Raid,  106  ;  supports 
Milner,   108  ;   as  youngster  learns  that  truth  and  no  race  distinctions  axioms  of 
Empire,  147 
Political  ideas  of:  his  ideal,  56 ;  first  draft  of,  1877,  58  :  English  first  of  races,  58  ;  its 


reunion,     102  ;     on     secret     society   and    obedience,    109 ;    on    Dutch   in    South 


134 ;  what  Empire  meant  to  him,  140  ;  his  own  definition,  143  ;  on  the  flag,  143  ;  hi 


inture  01  r-ngianu  must  oe  L,ioerai,  pernaps  to  ngni  socialism,  133 

Political  Will  and  Testament  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  1891,  addressed  to  W.  T.  Stead,  64 ; 
key  to  his  ideas,  Jesuit  organisation,  differential  tariff  and  American  Constitution, 
64  ;  English  greatest  race,  but  unaware  of  its  greatness,  68 ;  English  labour 
dependent  on  outside  markets,  68  ;  to  end  all  war  and  make  one  language  uni- 
versal, gradually  absorb  all  wealth  and  higher  minds  to  object,  68  ;  Anglo-Ameri- 
can reunion,  73 ;  Federal  Parliament,  sitting  five  years  Washington,  five  years 


;raits  of:  Downey  s,  3  ;  by  Tennyson  Cole,  26  ;  by  Marchioness  of  Granby,  50  ;  in 
the  "  Eighties,"  54  ;  as  a  boy,  78  :  autograph  portrait,  116  ;  in  the  Matoppos,  138  ; 


at  the  Cape,  141  ;  last  taken  in  1901,  176 


INDEX.  197 

Rhodes,  Cecil  John — continued. 

Religious  ideas  of:  ideal  of  Secular  Church -for  extension  of  British  Empire,  59:  a 
political  Society  of  Jesus,  63  ;  Agnostic,  84 ;  on  the  Bible,  84  ;  on  broadening 
influence  of  travel  and  Nature,  86  :  on  church-going,  86 ;  on  churches,  88 ;  a 
Darwinian,  88;  on  life  and  death,  88;  is  there  a  God?  88  ;  what  does  He  want 
me  to  do?  89;  testimony  of  the  Booths,  89-93;  Divine  area  of  action,  94;  Divine 
method,  94 ;  Divine  instrument,  95 ;  Divine  ideal,  96 ;  his  threefold  test,  97 ; 
his  conclusion,  98  :  his  policy  as  to  education,  94 ;  his  idea  in  essence,  98 :  fond 
of  theological  discussion,  184;  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  184  :  "This  one  thing  I  do," 
184  ;  his  colloquy  with  the  Infinite,  188-9 :  not  an  atheist,  189  ;  on  the  future  life,  189 
Sayings  of:  on  Matoppos,  "  Homes — that  is  what  I  work  for,"  5  ;  on  university  educa- 
tion, 23  ;  on  "  smug,"  "  brutality,"  and  "  unctuous  rectitude,"  44  ;  on  loafers,  45  ;  the 
essence  of  a  proper  life,  45  ;  on  country  landlords,  46  ;  "  Do  you  ever  feel  mad?" 
etc.  "  I  do,  at  pig-headed  statesmen  of  George  III.,"  59;  "  Leave  the  local  pump 
to  the  parish  beadle,"  74  ;  "  Don't  despise  money,"  83  ;  "  Life — three  days  at  the 
seaside,"  88  ;  a  fifty-per-cent.  chance  there  is  a  God,  89  ;  "I  am  trying  to  make 
new  countries — you  are  trying  to  make  new  men,"  93  ;  Justice,  Liberty,  Peace,  the 
highest  things,  97 ;  "  You  cannot  govern  South  Africa  by  trampling  on  the 
Dutch,"  113  ;  Gladstonian  Home  Rule  makes  Ireland  a  taxed  republic,  118  ;  "  My 
idea — Liberalism  fius  Empire,"  131  ;  "  No  use  to  have  big  ideas  without 
cash,"  142  ;  "  The  whole  of  your  politics  lie  in  your  trade,"  169 ;  "  Your  trade  is 
the  world  and  your  life  is  the  world,"  170 ;  East  Africa  based  on  the  suppression  of 
slave  trade  and  cultivation  of  cocoanut,  172  ;  ".The  best  commercial  asset  in  the 
world,"  174-5:  "Always  do  the  comparative!"  181  :  "So  much  to  do,  so  little 
done,"  184  ;  "  I  would  annex  the  planets  if  I  could,"  190 

Speeches  of:  at  laying  foundation  stone  Presbyterian  Chapel.  86 ;  at  Salvation  Army 
meeting  at  Mansion  House,  90-1  ;  at  prize-giving  at  Bulawayo  school,  94  ;  pub- 
lished by  Chapman  and  Hall,  1900,  139  ;  on  United  States  of  South  Africa,  1883, 
142  ;  on  the  Flag  question,  1890,  143,  173 ;  on  the  Afrikander  Bond,  1891,  144  ; 
on  the  Dutch,  145, 147  ;  against  race  distinctions,  147  ;  against  Crown  Colony,  148  ; 
on  native  legislation,  1888,  148  ;  address  to  the  shareholders  of  the  Chartered  Com- 
pany, 1895,  149-175  ;  on  the  British  flag  as  a  commercial  asset,  173-5 
Wills :  first  of  Cecil  J.  Rhodes's,  1877,  61  ;  second,  1882,  62 :  third,  1888,  62  ;  fourth, 

1891,  64  ;  fifth,  1893,  104 ;  sixth  and  last,  1899,  3  ;  why  altered,  103-4 
Will,  last,  and  Testament  of:  domicile  declared  in  Rhodesia,  3  ;  burial  place  in  the 
Matoppos  (q.v.),  why  chosen,  3  ;  inscription  on  tomb,  4 ;  the  Shangani  monument, 
4  ;  conditions  for  future  burials,  5  ;  fund  for  beautifying  burial  place,  7  ;  bequeaths 
Bulawayo  and  Inyanga  estates  for  instruction  of  people,  5  ;  forms  Matoppos  and 
Bulawayo  fund  for  burial  place,  7  ;  provides  for  planting  Sauerdale  (q.v.  Park,  7  ; 
for  completing  Westacre  .q.v.  dam,  7-9  ;  for  constructing  railway  to  Westacre  for 
week-enders,  9  ;  founds  Inyanga  q.v.)  fund,  9;  for  irrigation,  u  ;  for  experimental 
farming,  forestry,  gardening,  and  Agricultural  College,  n  ;  leaves  Groote  Schuur 
.q.v.}  as  residence  for  Prime  Minister  of  federated  South  Africa,  13  ;  till  then  as 
park  for  people,  16  ;  founds  Groote  Schuur  fund,  17  ;  bequeaths  ^100,000  to  Oriel 
(q.v..  College,  Oxford,  20  ;  for  new  buildings,  21  ;  for  resident  fellowships,  21  ; 
for  the  High  Table,  22  ;  directions  to  trustees,  23 ;  founds  scholarships  at  Oxford, 
23  ;  suggests  extension  of  medical  school,  24;  states  his  object  as  union  of  English- 
speaking  race,  24 ;  the  sixty  Colonial  scholarships,  32  ;  one  hundred  American 
scholarships,  33  ;  fifteen  German  scholarships,  35  ;  rules  for  selecting  scholars,  36  ; 
apportionment  of  marks,  38;  conditions  of  lesidence,  40;  of  payment,  43;  of 
distribution,  43  ;  of  discipline,  44 ;  annual  dinner,  44  ;  settles  Dalham  Hall  estate 
on  Col.  F.  Rhodes  and  Capt.  Ernest  Rhodes,  45  ;  conditions  in  the  codicil,  45  ; 
no  incumbrances  to  be  created,  45-6  ;  ten  years'  work,  47 ;  service  in  Militia  or 
Volunteers,  47;  forfeiture  of  title,  47  ;  leaves  residue  (q.v.)  of  estate  to  joint  tenants 
who  are  also  named  executors  and  trustees,  49 

Rhodesia,  nine  scholarships  for,  32  ;  called  after  C.  J.  Rhodes,  68  ;  its  extent  north  of 
the  Zambesi,  150;  Matabele  and  Mashonaland,  151;  extent  of,  152;  material 
development  of,  154,  157  ;  cost  of  administering  in  1895,  154-5 :  railway  making 
to,  157 ;  a  white  man's  country,  158 ;  profits  of,  from  minerals,  159 ;  Hays 
Hammond,  report  on,  159 

Rosebery,  Earl  of,  joint  heir  of  residue,  49,  108 ;  quoted  by  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  favour  of 
reduction  of  Irish  Members,  121  ;  saves  Egypt  by  joining  Gladstone's  Ministry,  132  ; 
saves  Uganda  and  Egypt,  169 

Rudd,  C.  E.,  portrait  of,  119 

Salvation  Army,  C.  J.  Rhodes  on,  90-93 

Sauerdale  property  to  be  planted  as  park,  7 

Schnadhorst,   F.,  Liberal  Whip,    correspondence  with,  130-7  ;   meets  C.  J.   Rhodes  in 

Africa,  131 ;  asks  for  subscription  to  Liberal  fund,  131 ;  .£5,000  given  on  conditions, 

133  ;  his  defence,  136-7 
Scholarships,  first  founded  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  for  Rondebosch  College,  29 ;  in  his  last  will, 

60  were  founded  for  Colonies,  30-1  ;  100  for  United  States,  34  ;  15'for  Germany,  35  ; 

how  to  be  selected,   36  ;    allotment  of   marks,   38  ;    discussion  on,  38-44 ;   annual 

dinner,  44-5,  52  ;  first  idea  of,  105 


198 


INDEX. 


Secret  Society,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  first  suggestion  of,  5  )  ;  the  key  to  his  idea,  64,  66  ;  to  absorb 
the  wealth  of  the  world,  73  ;  success  anticipated  in  200  years,  76  ;  his  idea  in 
essence,  98  ;  difficulty  of  obedience,  109  ;  prospects  of,  114 

Shangani,  monument  to  those  who  fell  at,  4 :  bas-reliefs,  28 

Shippard,  Sidney  G.  A.,  the  first  of  C.  J.  Rhodes's  heirs,  61 

Socialism,  England  must  be  Liberal,  perh-ips  to  light,  133 

South  African  College  School,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Spain  to  be  controlled  by  Anglo-Saxons,  74 

Spectator,  absurd  misconception  about  the  Schnadhorst  subscription,  130 

St.  Andrew's  College  School,  Cape  Colony,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Stellenbosch  College  School,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Stead,  \V.  T.,  discusses  with  C.  J.  Rhodes  qualifications  for  scholarship,  38-43,  103; 
portrait  of,  42  ;  joint  heir  of  residue,  49  ;  name  ren.ovjd  from  executors,  49,  in  ; 
appreciations  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  51-56,  81,  83,  139;  custodian  of  first  will  of  C.  J. 
Rhodes,  61  ;  left  heir  with  "X"  in  a  fourth  will  (1891^,64,  104;  entrusted  with 
political  will  and  testament,  64;  on  the  Rhodesian  ideal,  77;  confidential  con- 
versation with,  79  ;  oiigin  of  friendship,  79 ;  his  Gospel  of  the  I'.HI.G.,  79  :  first 
meets  C.  J.  Rhodes  ,1889  ,  79:  through  Sir  C.  Mills,  81  ;  first  impressions,  81-2  ; 
C.  J.  Rhodes  attracted  by  the  imprisonment  of,  82  ;  conversation  with  C.  J. 
Rhodes  published  in  1899,  83-98  :  letter  of,  to  C.  J.  Rhodes,  98  :  letters  to,  from 
C.  J.  Rhodes,  64,  99:  founds  the  REVIEW  OF  REVIEWS,  99 ;  Manifesto  "To  all 
English-speaking  Peoples,"  93-102  ;  approved  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  99  ;  "  Our  Ideas," 
102 ;  commissioned  to  communicate  C.  J.  Rhodes's  secret  to  the  others,  103 ; 
joint  heir  in  fifth  will  with  "  X"  and  B.  F.  Hawksley,  104;  discusses  with  C.  J. 
Rhodes  methods  of  propaganda,  104 ;  told  about  the  scholarships,  105  :  action 
in  re  Jameson  Raid,  107;  last  interview  with  C.  J.  Rhodes  before  the  war,  107; 
made  joint  heir  in  last  will,  108 ;  suggests  American  scholarships,  108  ;  other 
suggestions  rejected,  103 :  his  responsibility  from  1891-9,  103  :  first  interview  with 
C.  J.  Rhodes  after  war  broke  out,  103:  "insubordination"  of,  109;  his  defence, 
in  :  B.  F.  Hawksley  on,  in  ;  friendship  unimpaired,  112;  last  interviews  with 
C.  J.  Rhodes,  112-13;  on  the  secret  societ3r,  II4~15  ;  forwards  letter  from  C.  J. 
Rhodes  to  F.  Schnadhorst,  135 

Stevenson,  Mr.,  of  Exeter  College,  on  American  and  Colonial  students,  31,  35 

Tariff  war  advocated  by  C.  J.i  Rhodes,  66,  73,  76,  167 

Tasmania,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Transvaal,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  sympathy  with  flag,   143  :    "  I  look  to  no  political  difficulty 

from  the"  (1895',  164  ;  ultimatum  unexpected  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  108 
Trustees  under  last  will,  49 
Tweed,  Jno.,  sculptor  of  Shangani  monument,  4 

Uganda  saved  by  Lord  Rosebery,  i6j 

Umzilikazi,  chief  of  Matabele,  buried  in  Matoppos,  4 

United  States,  scholarships  for,  27;  why  granted,  27  ;  C.  J.  Rhodes  on  "recovery  of," 
59  ;  on  the  loss  of,  59  ;  restoration  of  Anglo-Saxon  unity,  61  ;  w  idening  of  his  views 
on,  62  ;  constitution  of  his  text-book,  63-66  :  boycotts  English  goods,  66  :  commer- 
cial war  with,  66,  76  ;  fascinated  with  idea  of  world-wide  dominion,  74;  McKinley 
tariff,  76  ;  C.  J.  Rhodes's  ideas  on,  broadened,  62,  102  ;  takes  precautions  for 
future  tariff  war  with,  167;  tariff  cripples  English  trade,  169 

University  education,  why  esteemed  by  C.  J.  Rhodes,  23  ;  must  be  residential,  24 

Victoria,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

"  View,  the,  of  the  World,"  2 

"  Vindex"  edits  C.  J.  Rhodes's  speeches,  120,  139 

War,  how  to  end  all,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  "  patent,"  59,  61,  66  ;  South  African,  C.  J.  Rhodes 
did  not  anticipate,  108 

Warren,  Sir  Charles,  on  C.  J.  Rhodes,  1884,  117 

Wealth,  C.  J.  Rhodes's  use  of,  51  ;  millionaires  and  their  money,  66,  73  ;  the  seizure 
of  the  world's,  76  ;  "  Don't  despise  money,"  83  ;  acquisition  of,  not  good  enough, 
85  ;  his  subscription  to  Mr.  Parnell,  120-130  ;  secures  conversion  of  Home  Rule  from 
separation  to  federation,  120  ;  not  due  to  anxiety  for  Charter,  120;  subscription  to 
Mr.  Schnadhorst,  131-138;  indispensable  to  big  ideas,  142;  without  imagination, 
173-4 

Westacre  dam  and  park,  7 

Western  Australia,  three  scholarships  for,  32 

Will,  the  so-called  political  will  and  testament,  1891,  64-76 

Women,  C.  J.  Rhodes  refuses  to  admit  them  to  his  scholarships,  108-9 

Work  essential  to  proper  life,  45 

Wyndham,  George,  reports  saying  of  C.  J.  Rhodes,  5 

"  X"  heir  to  C.  J.  Rhodes  in  third,  fourth  and  fifth  will,  62  ;  why  not  left  sole  heir,  103 


LONDON  :     PRINTED    BY   WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND    SONS,    LIMITED, 
DUKE   STREET,    STAMFORD    STREET,    S.E.,    AND   GREAT    WINDMILL    STREET,   W. 


LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A    000694190    o